


Session A

by Queen_of_Wands (8_excuses_are_necessary)



Series: FortuneBound [1]
Category: FriendSim - Fandom, Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: Dealing with anxiety, Gen, Major Original Character Death, Major Original Character(s), Non-Canon Characters Only, SBURB, Timeline Shenanigans, but like aren't we all?, more tags to follow?, using characters to explore personal issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21625696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8_excuses_are_necessary/pseuds/Queen_of_Wands
Summary: Whether you wanted to be here.  Whether you wanted to see this.  This story will happen.  The disasters.  The good times.  All of it will happen, no matter if you are looking or not.  Remember that.  Witness them or not, fate has decided to play a game and it will continue until it's done.
Relationships: Original Character/Original Character
Series: FortuneBound [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558648
Kudos: 5





	1. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You begin.

TO YOU WHO HAVE STUMBLED HERE;

I hope you find peace here.

TO YOU WHO HAVE RUN HERE;

I hope you find a restful place here.

TO YOU HAVE WHO CHASED THE WORLD HERE;

I am afraid that you will not find something satisfactory here.

There will be no quiet moment for you, except the ones filled with dread and death

***

You walk into a room. It is dark, plain, unassuming. Maybe it's a little bit terrifying, since you can't see where the floor ends and the wall begins from where you stand. There isn't even a light. You stop. You don't know how you get here, actually. You turn around looking for a door or a window or anything. There is no door where you came from. There is no door in any direction that you look.

A faint glow comes from the way you were facing. You assume that this is forward and follow the lights. The particles that float in the air aren't real, you realize as your hand passes through them. You pass through like you're in a movie. Eventually they lead to a platform, slightly raised in the dark room that you're in. A circle of particles floats lazily around it. You stand on top of the platform, looking for the sign of something that you're meant to be looking at. But there's still nothing and no one here. You again reach for the particle, but they still ghost through your hand. As you look at your hand, you realize that there's someone else in the room.

You look up, lowering your hand. You meet her eyes first, seeing the force of something that you can't name. She looks like perfection, like something too perfect to exist. Like a doll. She inclines her head, amusement playing across her face. You realize that maybe you were meant to bow when you saw her. You fall into the bow now. After several breaths, you look back up, mouth open to say hello, but there's nothing for you to say. You don't know her; you don't know if she is friend or foe. Her rank, her title, everything about the situation escapes you.

"How nice to finally meet you," she says, her voice deeper, echoing through the infinite room. She shifts her stance, looking like a classical painting or a sculpture. "I knew you were coming. But I did not expect that it would take you this long to get here. Come, let us start this journey together."

She gives you no time to answer, no time to think. She has turned around, picked up her skirts and moved out of the room, through a door that you did not see before. As she moves, more light particles appear. Further and further the lights go, showing how massive the room truly was. You walk to the edge of the platform and then quickly jump off of the platform to follow the woman. At least she has shown you a way out of the room.

Outside the door, you find yourself in a castle. It's more modern, like it was a castle and a mall all mixed into one. The floor is marble and you can hear the click of the woman's shoes on it. Your own shoes are soft and you make little noise as you walk through the halls. Red banners line the tall hallways, but the woman doesn't acknowledge that they are there or anything else about the halls that she leads you through. You turn this way and that to look at what this place has to offer. Everything must be important, but your brain is filled with a fog that doesn't allow you to really understand the world that you are in just yet.

The clean, untouched world quickly loses your interest and you instead look out the few windows that are not completely stained glass. Out there, galaxies dance, infinite in number. The hallway around you seems smaller somehow as you pause to look at the view.

The tapping of the woman's steps pauses and you realize that she's waiting for you. You walk back from the window and then turn to look at the woman, but she has already turned away from you and continued walking. Her golden hair doesn't move an inch as she continues to go through the castle.

She leads you through grand halls and narrow hallways. The unnamed woman has also never asked for your name, so the silence that lingers between the two of you only grows in suspicion. But the further you go, the more traces of people you see. Books left in window sills, muddy steps along the edge of the hall. Worn paths in the marble are there under your feat. Metal worn down under the touch of hundreds of hands shows on the stair rails that you pass.

But there's no one here. Just the echoes of them. That's worse than it being untouched, you decide.

Every step that you and the woman take is echoed through the massive halls. You start to find it more and more intimidating, more and more terrifying. You start to feel a panic in your head and reaches your lungs and your stomach. All at once, you feel nauseous, like you're going to vomit where you stand. She looks over her shoulder at you and you open your mouth, but she just shakes her head. You follow her out into a place that is no longer indoors. You walk across the walkway, but you're not exactly happy with the fact that you're staring out into empty space. You can still breath, but there's still a little bit of anxiety weighing down on your chest.

Across the walkway is a tower. Inside the tower, you see a telescope and some moving panes in the window. She doesn't immediately tell you where you're going or what you're meant to do in this room, so you take the chance to look through the windows. One of the windows has two panes overlapping. looking through them, you can see something odd about one of the galaxies out there. Instead of only one galaxy, you see a second one, overlapping the first, spinning the opposite direction. The panes shift, moved by a mechanical piece that you can't see. And there's only one moving.

"Welcome to one of my favorite rooms in this place," the woman says, standing in the center of the room, "Obviously the rest of this place is quite empty, but this is a place where I find it difficult to feel lonely at all. The view is one of the nicest in the whole castle. And as you have already discovered, there's a dual nature to some of the galaxies out there. The six that I guard in particular shine best through those dual-pane windows."

She moves to the telescope and leans over to look through the eye-hole. "They've been interesting to observe from here, but I'm afraid that it's dreadfully boring when I'm the only one that can really get anything out of looking out there.

You look at her and tilt your head, but you don't ask the myriad of questions that are on the tip of your tongue. You've felt rather silent for this entire time, but you're not sure if it's something you wanted or if you're just unable to speak because of the person in front of you.

"Call me the Queen of Wands," she says so quietly that you almost miss it. She looks up from the telescope and fixes you with a stare right at your eyes. "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I know all about you, so I forgot that you wouldn't know anything about me. I'm afraid that in the time I've spent out here by myself, I've forgotten most of my manners. There are no humans that have lived here in the last couple thousand years. As the Guardian of the 12 galaxies out there, I've had even only limited interactions with the guardians assigned to the galaxies out there. You are an anomaly, in more ways than one."

You glance back out the window and realize that there are 12 galaxies out there. They are all far enough away that you can see them all from one window. Six pairs swirl out there.

"Twelve galaxies, twelve stories that I have grown to understand and love for all their different facets. I'm afraid that there's quite a lot that I want to share with you and I can't just dump all the information on you at once. I shouldn't be the one to tell you the stories. They should be telling you their stories." She clasps her hands together. "And I know where to start."

She walks closer to you, looking out the nearest windows. Eventually she gestures for you to come over. "That one," she says, pointing. You follow her point to one of the galaxies. It doesn't seem to be moving at all, which worries you. "I know that the one we'll be starting with moves rather quickly, but it shall be worth it in the end. And I know that you're uncertain of the tales that you're about to be told. After all, I am a stranger to you. But you being here has changed the stories, made them visible to eyes that would have never found them before. There have only been guardians watching over them. Now there's another person."

It seems improbable that one person could be in charge of watching over all of this, but when she meets your eyes and her white pieces look through you, you realize that she isn't a person.

"You probably believe that this is fake or a waking nightmare of some sort that you would like to escape, but it is not. I promise you that much. And I would like to show you everything about those worlds out there."

You start to move to the telescope, since that would be the best way to really look out into space. But she shakes her head and instead gestures at a door on the other side of the room. As soon as you continue toward that door, she follows you.

When you push open the door, you find yourself in a room that you can only describe as a bubble. It isn't really a bubble. It isn't round. It's made of planes of glass that let you look out into the whole of space around the castle. Even the floor below your feet is clear to let you really see down into the void below you.

You walk towards the middle of the room and you realize that the position of the room and the kind of glass that has been used lets you see one of the twin galaxies very clearly in every plane of the glass. You stare up for a long moment before the Queen of Wands gently pushes you towards the thing that's waiting in the middle of the room.

There is one very large screen in the center of the room, flanked by two smaller screens. Before them is a red chair. She gently pushes you that way. You follow and go toward the chair.

"You can leave if you would like, but the stories within there will be told regardless. In a way, they have already been told. You can stick around and hear the story here, if you would like. Hear it as it was intended to be heard."

She leaves the room, closing the door behind her. You listen for a moment as her steps fade away into another part of the building. With that, you are left utterly alone. You take a breath and look down at the red chair. It looks comfortable enough. You settle down into the chair, the only option you have unless you want to stand and watch the entire time. You're very certain that you don't want to do that.

Whatever happens next, you will only be here in this room, unable to touch the other side of the screen. All three of the screens are dark right now. A static sound follows the visual static as they start to shift. A black and purple swirl moves slowly across the two flanking screens as the first screen begins to change.

You're alone in this place. You'll be faced with the story of someone else and how they got to where they are. You're not sure if you like this. You're not sure if you want to be here alone in a room where a galaxy can look down on you.

The main screen goes live. You grip the arms of the chair, prepared to look in at this. This feels familiar in the worst way possible.

***

Far away from you and yet unseen, a force rages out in the empty vast space between galaxies. It can see you here, focused in the reflection of all those glass shards. It knows you're there. It's furious. Furious that you're there. Furious that you exist at all. Furious and deadly as hell.


	2. Chapter I

As the screen really lights up, you see static at the edges. You're given a glimpse of something, but it isn't a whole image. You spot pieces of things, shards of a reality that you are barely beginning to understand. There aren’t even the colors of it, just these shapes, impressions of something left behind. Eventually, the screen settles back to black and the static at the edges fades. The screen goes white, loading screen letting you know that everything is in order.

The spirograph spins for a second, then stops and folds in on itself before opening and showing you an image.

A young man stands in his room. It isn't his birthday, you don't think. There's no cake, no hats, no presents, nothing. You don't know him though, so it could still be his birthday. There are only two facts that you know about this young man. He is named ORSON and he is a THIEF OF DOOM. You know this because it's on the screen in front of you, plain as day. It's convenient to not have to wait for someone to talk or to attempt to give them names. You think that this will help speed up the exposition time for whatever this is.

Just as you're beginning to think that this is all a little odd, you get a good look at his room. You can see everything but two walls, but on the two walls that you can see, there really isn't all that much to be interested in. The floor has some usual teenage things, such as clothing thrown into piles and some bits and bobs. But the walls are relatively boring. Diagrams are hung on the walls where you would assume posters would go. Diagrams of intense computer parts and how to get them to work. Diagrams of old and new computers alike. You realize that the little things on the ground aren't just like random junk that a teenager would have, but pieces of computers new and old. You can only recognize it now that you can see the diagrams that correspond to all the parts. It's obvious that Orson has a Thing for Computers.

But there's not a lot else to him, it looks like. He's not particularly exciting in a room full of computer junk. He's a rather plain-looking kid with messy brown hair and brown eyes. There's only one thing that stands out to you and that is a stack of papers on the corner of his desk. There are several colorful sticky notes on the cover and sticking out from the stack. Some of the pages are visible and you can even see highlighter marks from where you are. Whatever is in there, he's researched and read this paper well. But the paper is also flat and pristine like he's tried to keep it as neat as possible. You wonder who gave it to him to make him treasure it like that.

You can only read one word on the topmost page of the paper. It reads: GAME

You assume that it's the name of whatever is being described within. It's a very boring name. Unimaginative at best, really.

But we have to return to Orson, standing alone in his room. His hair is just in his eyes, but he doesn't seem to mind it as he spaces out. Whatever he's deep in thought about, it's as far away from this room as you are.

You wait for a couple of moments, uncomfortable with silence and the time that it allows you to reflect, uncomfortable with the gaps in your own memory issues. You just want this screen to do something, anything that helps you get out of your head. For a second, you consider reaching out and tapping the screen. You don't think it would do anything, but you're not very certain.

Just as you're about to get up and out of the chair, his phone buzzes. The noise startles you, but he doesn't move for a second. In fact, it's more like he has too little of a reaction to being normal. He pulls the phone out of his pocket, looking at the screen before moving his bangs out of his face. Then he turns around and glances at his computer. He sighs, then walks away to a place that you can't see. Your screen doesn't follow him. The camera or whatever it is that is allowing you to see into this world doesn't seem to be able to move here and now. You're not sure if it will be able to or if other ones will be able to. Being trapped in one frame of reference for a scene like this is honestly killing you. But you can hear the sounds of something happening off-screen. You're not sure what exactly he's building, but you know that he's building something out of metal and wood. The noises continue until they are left behind and you are looking into a different room.

DARRY, the screen reads, PRINCE OF SPACE. You only see a glimpse of him, of tanned skin and dark hair as he leaves the room. Then you can't see where he's gone or what he's doing for a long moment. Before the camera switches, you hear the ring of a phone and the screen of the computer in the room is lit up. The room was sparse and seemed to be all that exists in the small building. When you see Darry, he's standing at the back of the building, leaning against the siding. The building looks to be roughly the size of the room you could see, give or take the space that a bathroom would take up.

From this spot, you can see what he's looking at. A city fills a valley down below the mountain that his house is on. You're not sure how a kid like him got a small house like this, but he seems comfortable in this place, staring out at the city. He's nonchalant as he stands there. So much so that you can almost imagine him smoking while he stands there. The view would be more cinematic that way, even though the blinking lights of the city below are already beautiful. For a long time, he just stares. And it takes you a moment, but you realize that he's not just looking at the city. There's a ridge on the other side of the city that's also dancing with lights. There must people there that he knows. Or maybe he's been spending his time imagining the people that live there. Whatever he's doing, he's inside of his own head. He doesn't move or even really seem to acknowledge his immediate surroundings.

Inside, his computer and his phone are making noises. In fact, it's been going the whole time. You're not sure who's trying so desperately to get ahold of Darry, but they're not going to have much luck, it looks like. For a moment, you get it. You feel like you've been stuck in your own head forever, even since you were young. You can't remember the details, but you know that loneliness was something that you didn't mind.

And you and Darry remain quiet and lonely together like this. The two of you are just there, just thinking about what it means to be there. What it means to witness this. What it means to be at all.

You open your mouth and ask the computer to skip the scene, move forward, fast forward, go to the next page, any number of things. But you are greeted with the continued silence. It looks like this will move at its own pace.


	3. Chapter 2

You have been waiting for far too long, you have decided. But the screen shifts just as you think that thought. The screen switches and now you’re watching a young girl sitting in her room. Her fists are pressed against her face, against her eyes. COURT, the KNIGHT OF TIME, seems to be having a rough day. This moment reminds you of someone, but you’re not sure who or why. The memories from before you got here are still fuzzy in your head, but you feel a certain sense of …something warm and happy or maybe not so happy. It’s a little muddled.

What really matters is that this young woman in her room has something to do with the larger story that the Queen of Wands wants you to know. And this young woman looks absolutely miserable.

She is absolutely miserable, actually. But you can see the reason why. The way that the screen is situated, you can also see the other side of the door to her bedroom. On that side of the door, there is a woman, standing there, hand posed in front of the door. She quickly knocks again, getting another reaction from Court on the other side of the door. She flinches, but it looks like she’s been trying to look like there is absolutely nothing to react to.

The person knocking is the human’s guardian, you’re guessing. But the age and the appearance of the older woman also suggests that this has been a temporary fix. Nuns don’t often have children after all.

Court stands up as the knocking continues and looks at the door. She closes it, then the knocking continues. It’s then that she breaks.

COURT: leave me alone sister s!

You think that name is pretty lackluster, but the computer doesn’t give you anymore information about the woman. The computer, although it’s showing you the woman, obviously only thinks that this matters to the story of Court.

When the knocking doesn’t stop and instead gets much louder, Court lets out a long sigh and then crumples in on herself. She can’t even sit up straight enough to look at her computer as it starts to ping her. She doesn’t want to look at it. She’s sure that it has something to do with nothing that matters to her. That is, until the second ping.

Court unbends herself to look at the computer. It was the second message from this person. She knows that they know how she feels most of the time, so this must be something more than just a check in. She pulls the computer into her lap to reply, the sound of knocking punctuating everything that she does.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has begun a conversation with witnessSquared [WS] ---

PC: So I knoω that this is a bad time, but I need you to do something for me.

PC: And I hope that you read this message soon. Ωhat I’m going to ask takes some time to setup and I ωould rather start noω rather than later.

WS: please stop. please leave me alone. this is the worst time For this.

PC: Unless you ωant to be left alone for the rest of your life (roughly a ωeek), I can’t let you just pretend like you’re going to get involved. You have to be involved noω. Everything is ready to go.

WS: everything being the game?

PC: Yes.

WS: that super dumb game that you claim is going to save all of us From a certain death that you haven’t ever explained beyond the Fact that it exists out there?

PC: ….

PC: I do take serious offense to the ωay that you’re talking about the game and the ωay that this is all going to pan out, but you’re not ωrong. I am talking about “that super dumb game.”

WS: the same dumb game that i have repeatedly told you that i didn’t want to be involved in and have reFused to join in any conversation about it?

PC: Yes.

WS: so you understand that i’m going to say that i don’t want to be involved in this, right?

PC: Yes.

PC: But do you ωant to live more than the next couple of days?

WS: i still don’t believe that this game is going to do anything to save me From that dystopian Future that you keep imagining. stop trying to use that as the reason why i should listen to you and all oF your weird ramblings.

PC: Fine then, let’s focus on the fact that this is going to be ωhere all of your friends are. You’re not going to be able to get to us once ωe’re in the game. And I don’t think you ωant to be far from all of us. You’re alωays going on and on about hoω ωe’ve needed to meetup. This is that chance.

WS: you’re not going to let me leave this conversation go, are you?

PC: Obviously not if I’m still here trying to make you see ωhat I’m saying. So are you going to stop being a stubborn bitch and just promise me that you’ll join us.

WS: i don’t want to promise you, but iF this is the only way to get you oFF my back, then sure. i’ll make sure that i join you. but i can’t do anything right now. there are…outside problems.

PC: I’ll check back in 3 hours, hoω does that sound?

WS: that will work.

PC: :) Perfect. Thank you, Court.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has ended a conversation with witnessSquared [WS] ---

Court shuts her computer and then really listens to the room. There’s no more knocking up until the moment the click of the computer shutting hits the room. Then it picks back up and becomes more insistent. On the other side of the door, Sister S looks like a woman possessed. She hasn’t opened her mouth yet to yell, but you can tell that she’s wanting to.

Court doesn’t look at the door, doesn’t acknowledge it beyond the deep breath that she takes before she opens the laptop. She doesn’t curl up this time and you take that as a sign that she is moving in the right direction. But there’s a panic in her eyes that you can see too.

As soon as the computer is back on, she opens a new conversation and starts a new conversation. There are unanswered messages above the one that she’s writing now. It’s a lot of messages, and you don’t feel confident as you watch her type out one more and then another and then one last one.

\--- witnessSquared [WS] has re-entered a conversation with starcrossedChaos [SC] ---

WS: i know that you won’t answer this now or maybe it won’t happen ever. you told me that you were doing something over the summer. i don’t remember what it was that you said you were doing, but i know that you told me already that you weren’t going to be able to answer messages. but i…

**The user you are attempting to contact has been offline for 92 days. Messages will be delivered as soon as the user returns online.**

WS: i just…needed to talk to you. orson is messaging me about the game again. you said that you would be my partner in this beFore i told him that i would participate. i just need to know that you’re going to be around eventually to be in this with me. i need all your help. i don’t believe in this thing, but you do.

WS: please, sc. i miss you and i can’t do this without you.

\---witnessSquared [WS] has become idle in a conversation with starcrossedChaos [SC] ---

There’s no answer. Court doesn’t expect one as she sits there staring at the screen for a couple minutes. She just knows that she wants a response and she wishes that it would come sooner rather than later. There’s Sister S at the door, sour faced and angry as all hell. You try to use the time stamp in the bottom corner to really help yourself understand how long this situation has been going on. It’s been hours at the very least.

But as you and Court are distracted by other parts of this story, something begins to shift. Your eyes see something new on the screen. A chat window has taken up the whole screen. Court sees it to and sits back. The knocking continues, but Court doesn’t care about that. She moves her hands like she’s going to type into the client window and then puts them in her lap. Then she’s twisting her hair, anxious and uncertain.

\--- hello there. ---

You can’t blame her uncertainty. Who would know what to do with this? Her grimace says all that you feel about a computer talking at her.


	4. Chapter 3

\--- oh right, you may believe that you’ve been hacked when my messages look like this. ---

\--- we can adjust this. ---

Her hands move to close the computer as if she doesn’t want to deal with this. But then…

\--- [] has begun a conversation with witnessSquared [WS] ---

: i believe that this might be better suited for having a conversation. please don’t close the computer. i just want to talk to you for a moment about some things that are about to come up.

WS: let’s start with who the Fuck are you and why your text is so obviously bad.

: you don’t like my color?

: that’s disappointing. i liked my color, after all my name is cyan.

: and you are court, just so you know that i know who you are. this isn’t a random call. this is planned. and your place in what comes next meant that i wanted to talk to you first.

WS: so are you a delusional stalker or something?

WS: because i can’t think oF another reason why someone might be hunting me down like this.

WS: ugh. pc had warned me about this kind oF stuFF, but i never thought that someone would really decide to hunt me down like this. i really don’t need this right now.

: wait, wait, wait.

: you are incorrectly assuming that i’m living on this planet with you to begin with or have any interest in you beyond what you are about to do in the game. i’m never going to interfere though. i just have some things that i need to let you know about the game that you are going to play.

WS: oh jesus.

WS: another person that’s obsessed with that game.

WS: i’m done. let me know when you’re done yelling at my computer.

: orson and i share many traits. i will speak to him later about the game that he’s getting ready to start. but i’m not here for him.

: i just need a couple moments to talk to you and help you be in the right frame of mind for the game you are about to play. i’m certain that you will hear more from me, but i wanted to make sure you started right.

WS: are you…

WS: you know who orson is?

: of course.

WS: does that mean that you’ve been working him on this whole game thing? is it your Fault that he’s become so hellbent on this whole thing? does that mean i have you to thank For all the dumb shit that’s going on here?

: i suppose that you could blame me, but i’m not the only person that has been trying to get people into the game. there are plenty of people out there that are aware of the game and what it can do. some of them are trying to get more people involved. the others that are trying are keeping it to themselves though.

: but i’m not here to talk about myself.

: i’m here to ask if you are ready for the super dumb game that you’re about to play?

WS: did you

WS: did you just reFerence a conversation i had with orson not even 10 minutes ago?

: yes.

: as i said, i’m here as an observer that will make sure that things go as they need to. the twelve of you are important and i make that reference not to terrify you, but to let you know that i will always know everything that has been going on in your friend circle.

WS: listen here, you massive creep. even iF i believed you For even halF a second, any dumb advice that you had is now invalidated by the Fact that you’re acting way too creepy For my liking. i barely want to be involved in the game in the First place and now you’re just terriFying me beyond compare. do you really think this is going to be the best way to get someone involved?

: i see i went too far. i’ll stick with the shortest version of the worlds that i wanted to leave you with then.

: you will find yourself stuck once you’re in the game. you may think that there’s a clever way around whatever it is that you’re dealing with, but the way is straight through.

WS: Fuck you.

\--- [] has ended a conversation with witnessSquared [WS] ---

As soon as the conversation blinks off the whole of Court’s screen, you’re back in Orson’s room. No time to reflect on how Court feels. You can only move forward.

You quickly realize why it was that the switch happened so suddenly. Orson’s screen has been taken over in much the same way as Court’s was. But he’s not even looking at the conversation. He’s rather focused on the stack of papers in front of him. You try to gauge how early it is for him based on the number of notes, but you realize that the notes have just moved around. Some sticky notes aren’t where you remember them and others are. The time code in the corner appears to be 33 days prior, but that doesn’t make sense.

Cyan said that he was going to speak to Orson next. Unless he was hiding how much talking he’s already done with others in the group.

Orson looks up, sees his screen and he seems anxious, worried. There’s something about this that tells you that he’s heard about this from before. It’s perplexing, the amount of knowing that these people are doing without you understanding what’s happening has you wondering just who is in charge of the screens and who is watching you.

\--- [] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

: i understand that you’re the one that wants to work on the game file that you got the notes for recently.

PC: And you are?

: call me cyan. i have a vested interest in making sure that you have a chance to really understand this game.

PC: That doesn’t sound suspicious at all.

: even if it does, i could offer you valuable information about the game that you’re about to play. you know how high the stakes are.

PC: You’re also hiding ωho you are on this screen and preventing me from doing anything else on my computer. So regardless of the stakes, I don’t trust that you’re going to honor anything that you say here and noω. I can’t hold you accountable if anything goes ωrong.

: you make a valid point. but no one that has the information that i do is going to spend time sharing it with you or even revealing who they are.

PC: And?

: i’ll leave this conversation in your archive. if you ever want to talk to me, let me know. i’ll still have that update ready for you.

\--- [] has ended a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

The conversation minimizes itself automatically and Orson lets go of a breath that he was holding that he didn’t even notice he was holding. And then on the screen, there’s a file there, just labeled GAME, that wasn’t there before.


	5. Chapter 4

He doesn’t click on GAME. He doesn’t acknowledge it for a long time. Until he doesn’t mind using it. He needs the edge. He takes the name for it too. The game that Orson wants to play with his friends is just known around the friend group as the GAME. Some people call it stupid. Some call it fun. Some don’t talk about it all.

Days later, but not that far into the future, something crashes into the ground. Orson looks out his window. He’s not the only one looking. Smoke and dust are everywhere all at once. The peaceful afternoon is chaotic and almost hellish. The whole neighborhood whispers as they try to decide what to do. The meteor was large, but it didn’t hit the town directly.

The mayor is on the radio, talking about what they’re going to do to make sure that the town is safe after this. But Orson shuts his bedroom door and the window and continues writing to his friends and working on translating the code of the game to something that would be workable with the systems that he and his friends have.

Fire erupts around the meteor, lighting up the evening sky. Even as they rush to put it out, people pause to stare. There’s panic, but it’s the quiet accepting sort like they knew that this was coming.

And even though they likely didn’t know it was coming, this was inevitable. This wasn’t the first meteor that has hit the earth lately. This wasn’t going to be the last of them either. And no one knows what to do. They don’t know what it means.

***

Darry looks out his window and across the city to the ridge. The houses that once existed there are gone, a fire raging in their place. Further away, there’s a field on fire where an old house once stood. No one lived there, the reports will say. But there were plenty of people near the area. Darry knows this. He knows that this fire is fierce even from this far away. He doesn’t get his phone to call someone. There’s nothing he can do from here to help them.

Instead, he sits on the edge of the cliff and watches the fires burning, wondering about the empty house and whether or not there was someone, forgotten, that would be found amongst the ruins or if they would become dust once more, unknown and gone.

***

As the scene of destruction fades, you come back to Day 0. There’s a reason for showing you that destruction, but there’s something about the days and times that almost means nothing to you. These days once flowed in order and now you’re being shown them so out of order that the reality of the situation is hard to follow. Does it matter what day is what? Or just the relative place they hold to this day 0?

You take a deep breath.

You breathe out, just as deeply. You know that the time for all of this to make sense will come, even if it is not the moment.

The Day 0 has continued to show you Court, sitting on the floor of her bedroom once again. Her back is against the bed frame. But the screen begins to shift and move, opting to show you something else too, something next to Court. As the screen split finishes moving and the right-hand side of the screen flickers to life, then you’re able to see who it is that you’re dealing with.

The Day 0 has continued to show you Court, sitting on the floor of her bedroom once again. Her back is against the bed frame. But the screen begins to shift and move, opting to show you something else too, something next to Court. As the screen split finishes moving and the right-hand side of the screen flickers to life, then you’re able to see who it is that you’re dealing with.

KARIN, HEIR OF VOID, is standing outside near a forest. You are looking at her in a profile view as she holds her sniper rifle. She’s still, aiming carefully at a nearby tree. Quickly, you watch as the bullets fly. None of them land in the bullseye, but still few of them actually land in their target. Court is still as stone in comparison. You can see the breath in her lungs moving her just a little bit. But other than that, she doesn’t shift. Doesn’t look away from the screen, hoping for a message. You’re guessing that starcrossedChaos is Karin and that’s who Court is waiting for.

But from here you can see why Karin isn't answering. Another bullet misses the target. But you don't hear the telltale sound of it impacting into one of the other trees that's behind it. No, you hear something squeal in the forest.

As if the camera understands what you're concerned about, it forces itself away from Karin and instead zooms into the forest, past the untouched target, and into the forest. Behind the target, in the shadows of everything, you see that Karin's bullets have actually found themselves stuck in the bodies of small creatures, most squirrels and rabbits. Far away, you hear the click of a gun out of ammo. And into this frame comes another figuring, collecting the carcasses and then darting away. The camera doesn't follow the other figure as they jump around and collect things until they pick up the last of the small creatures. It follows the figure into a nearby shed, fitted with all the gear to skin larger animals. There, finally still and in your field of view, is a little old woman. She looks quite happy as she sits there, working away at the creatures that piled up on her table. By the state of the shed and the number of pelts that are up, this has been the way that they have dealt with the summer.

It strikes you as odd to let Karin hunt that way. Major amounts of the creatures are destroyed with the bullets, but the little old lady doesn't seem to care.

Karin is standing outside. She isn't happy with the way that her firing range attempt went. With a run through her hair, she looks down at the gun. She rubs the peach fuzz of the shaved side of her head and continues to frown. She takes the gun with her, safety on, into the house and then breaks the gun down and cleans it before she puts the pieces away. Then she stands in the middle of the house, trying to figure out what the rest of her day is supposed to be. She doesn't talk out loud, but you can see her thoughts clearly on her face.

She eventually leaves the hunting lodge living room that she locked her gun up in and heads upstairs to her own room. The room is quiet and full of pillows. You think that this looks a little bit like what you expected a psychic's room to look like. There are tapestries splitting up parts of the room, unlit candles all over, art all over that seems to relate to mystic items and mythologies.

She sits down on the pillows and then lays down, reaching over and under pillows to find something that's been hiding there. She returns to an upright position with a laptop in her hands. She looks at it for a second and then she sets it away from her and lays back down on the pillows and closes her eyes. As static slowly eats at that side of the screen, you guess that the girl is asleep now, gripping the laptop as if her life depends on it.

The side of the screen where Court was remains as it was at the beginning, Court alone in her room. She's looking more panicked now than she was before. But you don't know how long she's really been like that if the flow of time has been equal between the two screens. You're only human after all. You can't be counted on to track that much time.

But the lost time eventually gives way to Court's movements. She gets up and walks across the room to where her laptop is plugged in and charging. She's looking teary-eyed and beautiful in a way.

She types out more messages to Karin, but there is no response. The messages are still going unread.

But as you see her typing, you see the static disappear from the other computer. Karin is waking up from her sleep, but it doesn't feel like it was really that long. The side of the screen flashes with purple, something blue, something green. Then it's just Karin in her room. She's awake.

She sits up and stretches, thinking about something, but you're not sure what. She grabs her computer from underneath a pile of pillows where it slipped away from her during her sleep and plugs it in. It loads up her chat client quickly enough. She begins pouring over the messages that have come in over the last couple of months. But it's obvious that she only cares about Court's when she stops to reply to the messages that were left for her over the last couple months

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] begins a conversation with witnessSquared [WS] ---

SC: xX Court!! Xx

SC: xX I missed you. I'm done with my summer stuff now! I know I told you that I was doing something, but I probably didn't tell you exactly what. so it's okay that you don't know what I was doing! It wasn't that exciting anyways. Xx

SC: xX I will catch up with you soon. I'll be getting in touch with Orson to make sure that I have the details for everything that we're going to be doing. I'm sorry that I haven't been around for most of this. I know that it's been stressful for you. I didn't mean to leave you in the lurch all this time. Xx

SC: xX <3 I love you. Xx

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has caught up with the conversation ---

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] is now idle ---

Karin opens up another message. This is the most important message of the bunch, after making sure that Court was okay, everything would come after making sure that Court was okay. Even if the message isn't that important, it's important that she knew that everything was okay.

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

SC: xX hi there Orson. Xx

PC: Karin. Long time, no speak.

PC: I do knoω that it has only been a couple months since ωe spoke, but it does feel quite a bit longer, especially after the conversations that ωe had.

PC: And I ωasn't expecting to talk to you again. I thought you ωould talk to me through Court after the things that ωe said.

SC: xX just because I am unhappy with the way that the situation has dragged me out of what I have wanted to do, doesn't mean that I'll hide behind my friend to keep myself safe from your gross opinions. the only reason why I'm here now is to make sure that I can protect her in the future. I need information about the game. Xx

SC: xX you're the one with the game and the plan. it's too late for her to learn enough to teach me. I need you to give me the info.

SC: xX and. Xx

SC: xX I have the information that you want. From when I sleep. Those dreams of mine have always interested you. Xx

PC: You're ωilling to share it? Or ωill I have to stipulate that you ωon't get the crash course ωithout giving me the information first?

SC: xX you wouldn't dare endanger everyone else by not giving me info. if one of us falls, we're all dead. you know this. Xx

PC: ...

PC: I'll send you the files shortly.

SC: xX of course, I'm not an idiot. I will still share my dream information with you. it should fill in the holes and help develop information for the plans later on that you've been struggling with. Xx

PC: You could have decided to not tell me ωhat you dreamed at all.

SC: xX and we would be much more likely to die if I kept that information. let's not waste time. Xx

PC: Everything I knoω about this game points to the fact that it is not rooting for us to ωin. Ωe'll need everything ωe can get.

SC: xX and now you're hoping to find a way to play it safe? that's unusual. Xx

PC: And you ωere barely for playing the game at all.

SC: xX you have a point there. but let's keep ourselves focused here. I'm not happy to be participating still. I'm here for Court. I'm here to keep her safe from monsters, including any people I know. Xx

PC: Threat noted.

The conversation continues, not an interesting enough addition to our own view of it. The details and boring information might make someone happy. But not me. And for you, I can't tell you what you want. But I can tell you that it won't actually matter.

They trade files and ensure that they know exactly what both Karin and Court will need for their places at the beginning of the game. The other ones have been learning for months. This pair has no time to come to terms with everything that's going on. There's only time to learn the mechanics of what they're doing. There's no time to contemplate the way that this fight is going to destroy something in them versus just understanding that the coming days are going to be life.

Your chest constricts with guilt. You know that it will destroy them. Karin likely realizes it. Court doesn't seem to be able to focus on it. Orson already knows that this will not end well.

You watch Karin while you get stuck in your head. Something about her is reminding you of your forgotten memories. You know her, somehow. It's the way that she stands when she's taking a break from reading. It's the way that she smiles when she talks to Court. Is it you in there that you're seeing? You don't think so. And then she moves on. And you follow her. She can't wait for you because she doesn't know you exist, can't care about you in order to stick around and wait for your brain to settle.

No, she's moving onto something much more interesting and fascinating to you. She's pulled her laptop out of the nearest pile of pillows and has it open to a chat client. You don't know the name of the client that she's been using with her friends, but you know that the one that she has open now isn't it. Inside of the client, there is only one contact. When she opens up the conversation, there are messages spanning back through years, but there are only a couple in the recent weeks.

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has begun a conversation with auricularSnow [AS] ---

SC: xX are you there, AS? Xx

SC: xX I need to know if this was you. you said that you might reach out to my friends. and now they're doing things that I don't understand and that I don't have time to question. Xx

SC: xX even if you won't answer me, tell him more details about what's going on. they're going to go crazy and we're not... Xx

SC: xX well, we're not going to make it at this rate. Xx

*** AS has not been online in 5 days. Messages to them will remain held until the user comes back online. ***

SC: xX ... Xx

SC: xX maybe you already did something. Xx

SC: xX whatever. Xx

SC: xX I hope you made the right choice. Xx

SC: xX I'll have to live with the consequences, so I really really do hope it was the right one that you made. and who knows? maybe I won't have to deal with the consequences for that long.

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has ended a conversation with auricularSnow [AS] ---

Karin bites her nails as she sits in her pillows. She seems to think for several minutes, but the messages from her friends keep flooding in and she realizes that she has a place in this whole mess right in front of her. She answers the messages and you're just as lost as the rest of them.

Karin didn't strike you as the one that would be doing such heavy work. Maybe you've been considering these people the wrong way for this whole time. Something about covers and judging, you suppose. But in particular, she seems to be doing far more than anyone else in the world had told you she would.

You'll keep an eye on her, whenever you can you suppose. The focus is not up to you, after all, but the screen itself and all its wild ideas about narrative structure.


	6. Chapter 5

The screen dims. You wonder if it's an arc coming to rest or if there's nothing else that it wants to show you for the moment. You take a deep breath and keep your eyes open, even though you want to close them and pretend that you're taking a nap for a couple hours. Dear lord, you know that life was going to be like had you actually napped. There wasn't going to be a way to catch up on whatever the screen was showing you.

But. You don't feel tired. Not here. Not now. This feels fresh and new right now. The end of what you saw with Karin felt tired, felt like it was wearing down on you. You shrug your shoulders and try to consider anything else, everything else. You need to be far away from this whole thing. You need to be someone else somewhere else.

You look at the screens that you've been focused on and just take them in. While the middle screen is blank, the two on the sides are still showing the purple swirls floating across the black. They've been fairly constant and unchanging. You think that they might have changed with major time jumps, but you couldn't be certain.

Up and above you is the sky, but through the glass, there's only one galaxy visible. You would walk back into the castle and look out into space to look at the 12 galaxies out there, but you realize that there's so much more than just those 12 too. There's so much life out there and this is the small pocket of it that you've been forced into. Your smallness is remarkable and nauseating, you note a second later. You close your eyes to let the spinning stop as you try to get a grip on reality. Your head fills with static but the static makes way to the patterns of galaxies, unmoving and quiet, seared right into the memory of your eyelids. You can see in your head, the way that the stars don't move as the arms of galaxies reach further and further out.

Just as it begins to overwhelm you again, your mind flashes away from the static to something more concrete, if fuzzy.

_... an empty room_

Maybe it's yours.

_a ... computer ... screen_

But you can't read the text logs there. Just see the brilliant colored text.

_a world covered in ..._

You don't recall, but your attention wasn't dragged out of focus for fun. The screen in front of you is buzzing with life, dragging you back into its depth. The pressure at the back of your skull is gone. You're still a person, still alive. You're safe.

You don't see the new person immediately. You understand from the shot of the home and the garden that you are looking at the residence of the PAGE OF MIND, but their name is left off. The date on the screen is many months before the catastrophe that brought the friends together in one physical place.

The camera moves and then you're inside their home, sitting in the upper corner of a bedroom, ungendered, uninteresting, but not empty. The camera remains here for a long moment, letting you really get a sense of the world that you are looking at.

The room itself is far from empty, but you're not talking about objects. There are notes all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the sparse furniture. If you didn't know better, you would likely call this behavior the work of someone gone mad, but it isn't quite that simple. This appears more like the notes of someone that has lost track of their notebook and decided that the room itself will suffice to allow them to keep track of their thoughts. There are repeated words and phrases amongst the diagrams and you can't help but laugh when you realize that the most common word on the wall is REPEAT. And as soon as you pick up on it a couple of times, it's the only word that your eyes fall on as you look around. It means nothing to you, but the wall is screaming about repeated sequences and images and patterns.

But there are many more interesting things than just the words on the wall. There is something about the room that feels familiar, which isn't something that you expected. You glance around, wishing that you could move the camera just a little bit to get a better idea of the place that you are. You can't put your finger on it. And then you see it. It's along the wall, the flags running along the scaffolding there. A variety of symbols and colors lining the wall were what you were being called by. You know these colors. You remember those symbols. This isn't a coincidence. You move on, though, because you know that you can't recall it properly.

Your brain won't be able to shut up about it, but you force yourself to move on.

And it is then that the screen suddenly begins to pick up motion. The small movements because of a breeze start, like a hand waving gently. Then you see the sun set and rise, set and rise. You follow the motions of light until the Page enters the screen. On fast forward, he runs through the motions of ordinary life. He's small, unassuming, blonde. But there's a lot going on in his head, you can tell that from just the lock on his face. The screen slows down to a normal rate of movement and you're finally introduced to the next player in all this.

EMILE. The page.

He goes about his day, writing notes all over everything. He's looking for space on the back of a couch when you realize that he's not going to be the interesting one to watch. His phone goes off, he pauses his scribbling to answer. He does this over and over and over. And then the screen pushes forward further. He's unbothered by whatever it is that he's doing. He's not noticing the slow chaos around him.

Then the clock hits Day 0. Emile is alone in his room. He is standing at the window, looking outside. You can't see the world much past him just because of the angle, but you can see that he's relaxed. There's no second source of light that implies that there's the kind of fire that you've seen elsewhere around this time. He's safe, wherever he is, you assume.

And then the camera creeps upward slowly. You move away from Emile's standard home in Emile's standard neighborhood. You move up into the sky where something is heading down and straight for his home. You can't stop this. There's nothing you can do to tell the players to move faster than they are. You can only watch it. You assume that it ends well, but before you know it, you're somewhere else again on Day 0 with someone else that will have to figure out what it is that they're going to do about the chaos that's coming.

***

This someone else is the WITCH OF LIFE and they are standing in your view. NOBEL isn't quite what you expected from a Witch of Life, but it's the least of your concerns right now as to what's going on with the gender associations with the classes of these players. You think that the gender association might have once meant something, but does it matter in the long run? Definitely not.

Nobel's cropped hair and general stature are quite interesting to see as a Witch. You've never witnessed something like this before and you can help but feel quite infatuated with the way that everything has wound up.

He sits in his garden, laptop plugged in with an extension wire that is plugged in somewhere inside the house. But he's not paying attention to the computer. What's got his focus is the plants that are around him. His eyes are focused on them. But that's when you realize that this isn't just a normal garden. In the fenced-in garden are many plants that you've seen before, but as if they were on steroids. They're taller than they should be and some of them don't seem to look like they're going to stop growing anytime soon. You like plants, but you think that this is a bit ridiculous really. Some of these plants are at the height of the back of the chair. They're going to take over the garden. Most of the plants within the fence have a similar height. And there are plants outside of the garden walls too. They look like they're more normal-sized, but it's still not a good sign for you.

However, Nobel seems fine with this. He's fascinated with a flowering plant next to the chair that he is gently touching and examining as he sits there. It takes a ping on his computer to catch his attention get him to turn away from the plant.

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has begun a conversation with enchantedBee [EB] ---

WG: are you done examining all your plants? Ϡ

WG: because i have important questions and files that you need to deal with now. Ϡ

EB: ξξ I can be done now. However, I dislike the way you're making me feel like my plants are unimportant.

WG: sorry. Ϡ

EB: ξξ Just pass on everything from Orson so I can get everything set up on my end.

WG: uploading now. Ϡ

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has uploaded two files: GAME.exe, GAME_Explanation.doc ---

\--- Download? These files have not been scanned for viruses and could potentially damage your device. Only download files from sources that you trust. ---

\--- y ---

\--- Download started! Files will be available to open in 10 minutes. ---

EB: ξξ Those file names are really boring. Did Orson really just call this thing GAME?

WG: since when has orson been that interested in creative works? would he really have started being creative now when we're all apparently in danger of dying? Ϡ

EB: ξξ Point taken. My internet is crappy, so it may take some time to get the download done. Once everything's ready, I'll get the install going.

WG: i'll get my side setup then. let me know when you're ready to get started. Ϡ

\--- enchantedBee [EB] has gone idle. ---

Nobel walks away from the conversation, literally, as the download continues. Eventually, the download finishes and without prompting, it begins installing. As he checks in, he sighs then turns back to the garden that is slowly hiding him from the rest of the world. There's time to kill.

But he glances up through the plants and sees the meteors. There's not too much time.

***

The screen flips and you are looking at FLYNN, ROGUE OF BLOOD. He's tall, almost impossibly so. You can see his screen and you realize that this is wrongedGuardian, the person that is going to be working with Nobel to get him into the game. He's sitting at the edge of his seat, contorted so that he can more easily type quickly. But the room is calm.

And then you see the outside, which is the opposite of calm. There's fire licking up the sides of houses nearby, but there are people working together and putting out the fires left and right. The teams of people running in and out of homes have a sort of resigned attitude about the situation. You didn't expect this. But that's what's happening out there. People look like they've been fighting these battles for weeks. You know that they haven't, but maybe there's been something else in the air. Something that drives them to do things like breaking into the boarded-up house that Flynn has been occupying. There are groups of people fighting in the living room, but Flynn doesn't even flinch. This is a soundtrack to the life that he's living up there in his attic hideout.

He's unfazed by the sudden sounds of violence below. There's a dissonance between all of this that you can't understand. But Flynn seems content with all of this and you suppose that this is the most important part. His calmness and steady breath are all that you really need to care about.

\--- mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has begun a conversation with wrongedGuardian [WG] --

MD: HΘw yΘu are hΘlding up?

MD: Still dealing with all that shit Θut there?

WG: it never really ended, honestly. some friends and family are protecting most of the house, but there are nearby houses that needed help. i did as much as i could earlier today. i think i'm living on borrowed time at the moment. we're going to need to get this started soon or i might end up dying. i think most of us are doomed out here. there have been meteors all day. Ϡ

MD: Well...

MD: That sucks? :/

WG: yeah. i guess. Ϡ

WG: you needed something?

MD: DΘ I have tΘ have a reasΘn just tΘ chill and chat with Θne Θf my besties?

WG: you usually do. Ϡ

MD: Well nΘw that yΘu bring it up~

MD: I am thinking abΘut dΘing sΘmething that's gΘing tΘ be quite a change frΘm everything that we've been dealing with.

WG: let me stop you here. Ϡ

WG: if you are about to suggest something that is going to make all of this more complicated, i don't want to hear about it. we don't need to add something more to all of this. we need to get all of us into the game and then deal with life from there. Ϡ

MD: Θh cΘme Θn.

MD: YΘu never give me a chance.

WG: i never give you a chance because you're a dick about all of this. you like to make all of this so much more complicated and dumb for absolutely no reason. i have tried my hardest to make all of this much more logical. i have tried to make this easy for all of us. i'm just waiting on nobel to get started, then i can work with whoever i'm getting into the game later on to make sure that everything is actually smooth. Ϡ

WG: listen. i'm going to start rambling if i'm not careful. i have other things to consider, other things to deal with. emile is going to need my help to get into the game, but i am literally in danger of dying. so what the actual fuck do you want from me? Ϡ

MD: Yikes.

MD: Calm yΘur tits, Flynn. I knΘw that all Θf this is a lΘt and yΘu're under an immense amΘunt Θf pressure, but yΘu have tΘ understand that what I'm gΘing tΘ bring up isn't gΘing tΘ be a hindrance. In fact, I wΘuld call it helpful. After all, yΘu're wΘrking with NΘbel right nΘw and I wΘuld call him...bad at talking tΘ the peΘple that he needs tΘ talk tΘ.

MD: And yΘu're gΘing tΘ need every advantage yΘu can get.

WG: he's never been good at talking, but he isn't going to let me die. he pulls through every time i need him and this is going to be one of those times. Ϡ

MD: Are yΘu certain that he will? His wishy-washy attitude isn't as reliable as I think yΘu think it is.

WG: dude. fuck off. Ϡ

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has ended a conversation with mythicDoubleaxe [MD] ---

Flynn reaches out like he's going to close his computer, and then he flinches away from doing that. He doesn't want to deal with the opinions of other people that just like to start shit, but he can't close the computer. This isn't the time to just run away from his problems. This friend group has always been a pit of people getting upset about nothing that matters. When they're not starting shit, some of them are trying to convince others that they're in love with them. All of this has been shitty and terrible. Flynn hates it with a passion, but they're still his friends. Regardless of their dumb decisions.

Some of the girls in the group decided that he was one of the guys that were 'crush-worthy' but he never really understood what that meant. at the end of the day. It just meant that they paid him a lot of attention. Flynn knew that things couldn't stay like that. But he hadn't expected this now. He hadn't expected that that attitude would still stick. He closes his eyes and listens to the violence before reopening his conversation with Nobel.

He knows that his friend will be there, but he sends a message anyways, the heat of the flames is everywhere.


	7. Chapter 6

For a brief moment, you see Orson. The day you are on is not Day 0. This is Day 1, or so you are told. This is post-entry. This is the true beginning of the game, you assume. You can only stare at the screen. You hadn't expected this shift. There was no fade, no static, no nothing. You were just looking at something else, then you were suddenly here. Flynn's problems with girls aside, Orson's world is...a mess. You can't tell up from down as you look at the world, but you also understand that this world really wasn't made for you. Understanding it is not part of the goal.

And you are taken away from the image almost as quickly as you found it. You're with Darry now. His room is calm and collected like nothing had happened, but this is Day 1. This is in the game. You can see the odd landscape out there, calling to you. But that's all you can see from the window. There's nothing else. The camera angle that you're stuck in isn't one that's made to really give you a sense of scale. From here, you're only able to see the day-to-day life that they've adopted here in this new world. There's a lot less doing than you thought there would be. These kids don't seem to be that serious about the game. Or at least Darry isn't particularly interested in all of it.

But there's blood on him when he comes back in one of these days. You know that he's been dealing with some shit that you will never be able to understand, but you can feel the cracks in your heart. You want to do something for all of them, but there's nothing to do. There's nothing but the ability to answer the questions on his phone. He opens up a new message and started typing furiously.

\--- shadowedQuell [SQ] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

SQ: ϿϾAre you sure that we've got everything that we need to make this happen? I feel like I'm missing something because it isn't working exactly the way we expected. I know that your files are extensive and are going to cover almost everything that we needed to know, but I'm still not sure that this is enough.

PC: I'M BUSY.

SQ: ϿϾUh...

PC: CAN'T READ YOUR DUMB MESSAGES.

PC: SORRY.

PC: YOU'RE NOT DUMB.

PC: RR IS DOING...SOMETHING TO MY HOUSE.

PC: I AM GOING TO STRANGLE HIM.

SQ: ϿϾSo

SQ: ϿϾWe'll uh...

SQ: ϿϾTalk later?

PC: YEAH SOUNDS GOOD MAN. I'M SURE ALL OF THIS ΩILL BE FINE SOON.

SQ: ϿϾJust send me a message when you're done with RR.

\--- shadowedQuell [SQ] has ended a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

Well, that explains part of the chaos that you saw before, you guess. But this makes it all the harder to understand the situation. There is no reason for everything to be the way it is. Sessions should be hard, not impossible, but this seems like it has really hit the chaotic side of the spectrum a little bit harder than you expected.

Darry stands up straight and opens the door of his house. You see out into the world beyond. The game doesn't tell you exactly what that place is, but you can already think of names, just based on the infinite fog that you see out there. Through it, you can get the sense of some vague shapes like trees and some larger bulkier shapes out there that could be buildings, but they could be nothing. There are moving shapes out there too, monsters you guess.

Darry is already ready to head out there into the fog. He's holding a spiked bar stool in his hands. While you could say that he looks intimidating with that in his hands, he also looks a little bit ridiculous, since he's not in a bar, but his own home. You can't really tell what you should be thinking of him, but you can tell that he's been working hard out here, harder than others might see.

***

The screens shift again, starting to show you one of the players that you already know, but before everything has loaded properly, the screen glitches, static climbing up one side and the rest of the image distorted for a moment. And when everything settles, you're somewhere quite different.

The screen lets you know that this is IRENE, BARD OF BREATH. Her house lets you know that she's quite the chaotic character. Items of all sorts are hanging on the furniture and on the wall. Every part of the room is covered in colors. You can't see a speck of the room that is the same color for more than a couple inches.

According to the clock, this is well before the game. You aren't sure why the screens showed you something this far back now or why it avoided showing you this character for such a long time. But now you're here. You're not sure why it's trying to throw you. Maybe there's a reason for this narrative choice. Maybe it's just a way of making you crazy.

But Irene doesn't care about whatever is making you worry. In fact, you would say that she looks absolutely serene where she is. She's laying in her bed, wrapped up in a very soft blanket. She doesn't look like she's going to be involved in something where people are going to die. She looks like she's just hanging out and having a good afternoon. Besides her face and a little bit of her brilliant blue hair peeking out from the blanket, she's completely enveloped in the fabric. The color of her hair seems a little bit too on the nose for a breath player, but maybe there was some other reason that she picked that color. You look around the room again. She does have a lot of blue things there, but then you see in paint. There are sticky notes all over it, but there's a breath symbol painted on the wall in the room. She knows what she is. She knows what she will become. The color was done on purpose, exactly for the reasons you guessed were too on the nose in the first place.

There are messages on the computer that is also on the bed. In fact, the computer is pinging her right now, but she's absorbed in a book that she's holding through the blanket. You can read a portion of the title of the book: FORTUNE.

It sounds familiar, another distant memory that's only barely at the edge of your mind. Irene is happy where she is. There's no need for her to get involved with the messages and memos that her friends are writing. She likely knows what's going on and knows that she'll be fine. That laid-back attitude is something that you've always connected to Bards, so you're not surprised to see it here. You're not sure where you would have learned about these kinds of players before now, but this isn't the time to think hard.

Whatever you need to know about Irene and her place in this story comes before you figure out yourself. The session that you're watching will tell you something about your situation and tell you about the 12 sessions and the First Guardian that guards them. It's already unusual that there's a First Guardian protecting so many sessions. You're not sure how that could have come together as it did. You're not an expert on how sessions work, but you know some facts and some things bout the world. Unless there's a reason why these sessions are going to break that, you're a little uncertain about how all of this looks.

The bard sits up, still wrapped in her blanket, swaying as she sits there. The book is abandoned on the bed, left where she was reading when she was sitting quietly. She unwraps her arms and starts typing on her computer.

\--- inheritedPurificiation [IP] has begun a conversation with nicePotato [NP] ---

IP: Oh my god. You reΔlly did chΔnge your usernΔme to this.

IP: I thought this wΔs Δll some sort of joke thΔt you cΔme up with. I didn't think you would reΔlly do it!

NP: Why would I joke about a grade-A username?

NP: Especially when I discovered that no one was using it

NP: Do you really not like it?

IP: It's not thΔt... I just...

IP: Δrgh! WhΔtever. It's nothing. Don't worry Δbout my opinion on this. There Δre other, much more importΔnt things thΔt I need to tΔlk to you Δbout.

IP: Orson hΔs been trying to send you the documents Δnd files so thΔt we cΔn get things reΔdy, but he's sΔying thΔt you're not Δnswering or even reΔding the messΔges thΔt he's sending.

NP: Yeah, he's annoying. I didn't want to look at any messages from him and I didn't feel like checking to see if they were important

IP: On Δny other dΔy in Δny other situΔtion, I would Δdmire your lΔziness Δnd how extreme you mΔke it, but this time Δround, we need to mΔke sure thΔt you're going to behΔve like Δ normΔl person. You're just being dumb now. We've told you repeΔtedly thΔt this is super importΔnt Δnd thΔt you needed to pΔrticipΔte like the rest of us.

NP: I'm dumb though. I don't know why you would expect anything else from me. I have gotten this exact talk in some way or another from every single person that knows me. Parents included in that

NP: "Why aren't you acting your age?"

NP: "Why do you insist on acting like a child?"

NP: "Why are you acting like nothing you do is going to have an impact on the future?"

NP: "Don't you care about what happens later on?”

NP: Blah blah blah

NP: I would argue that I'm acting my age and in the most appropriate way possible. I'll go into adulthood feeling like I didn't miss out on the fun things. And whatever happens after that happens

IP: ...I guess?

IP: I don't know if it mΔtters if I Δgree with you Δt this point.

NP: Correct! Regardless of the choices I make, we will have hell to deal with in that game of Orson's, but there's no meteor coming for my house right now, so there's no need to rush. I will make sure that you're safe, IP. SR will also make sure that I'm safe too. You need to stop your fussing because it really isn't doing anything

IP: Δre you reΔlly pretending like the situΔtion isn't thΔt serious? Our friends hΔve been sΔved from meteors meer seconds before something smΔshed down where their house would hΔve been. This is the most serious thing thΔt we will deΔl with Δs Δ friend group.

NP: I'm not pretending. Forward me the files if you want, but I'm not going to move faster or speed into danger just because Orson thinks that I have to do that. When we start the game, I'll make sure that everything goes according to plan

IP: I reΔlly hope thΔt you're telling me the truth Δbout the situΔtion. Δnd I wish you Δnd Orson would get over whΔtever imΔgined fight you're hΔving.

NP: That motherfucker has insulted me repeatedly to my face. I know what I'm doing. If he wants to pretend that me doing something different than what he wishes is a real problem, then he can go ahead and act like the child he is

NP: I'd appreciate it you would know that I will take this seriously when I need to and not blindly trust Orson on this one. I thought you would know me better than that

\--- nicePotato [NP] has ended a conversation with inheritedPurification [IP] ---

Irene's face has gone from content to sour, but when she looks at her username, she cracks a smile and peels of laughter pour out of her. She's calm and collected again, but you can see the edges of anger under the smiling mask.

***

And with that, Irene disappears from the screen and the static returns, glitching through various colors, cycling this way and that until everything goes dark. The screen looks like it reloads as if there was something that caused a glitch so bad that the computer couldn't even figure out where it was going.

When the screen reloads completely, passing past a cyan-colored sky and a red landscape, you see LYLAH, MAID OF HOPE, standing in her bedroom. The username on the screen is inheritedPurification, the user that was just talking to Irene. And you wonder if the stressed look on her face is the normal one that she has or if there's something else that's bothering her like the conversation that she just had with Irene (assuming everything on the dates matches up).

But then she looks up and away from her computer for a second as things are moved around her particularly neat and minimalist room. The screen speeds up the events and you watch as Lylah is herded this way and that by the person on the computer. There are pauses and missteps, confusion and anger throughout the process, but eventually, everything slows down and the worried looked that she started with is gone. But it isn't replaced with anything positive. It's just a different kind of worry and concern, the kind that is forced on her by weeks of worrying about things and living a wild life.

She stops what she was doing and looks at the door to her house. Then she takes a moment and opens it. A world covers the screen through the door. And this time your view moves out to really view that place. The LAND OF RUINS AND FOREST, the screen tells you. This place looks like it came straight out of a video game sits in front of you. Lylah doesn't seem to know where to start. She stares out into that place and tries to start a sentence, tries to think about what she wanted to do.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket. There's a single message.

NP: If you don't start moving, I'm going to redecorate your whole house with things that only I like

NP: So get your butt out there. Go start that mission that's out there for you

It's enough, that pair of messages. Lylah walks out of the house and out into the wild, whip in her hand, gripped so tightly that her knuckles are bright white.

The screen doesn't move, just pulls back to put the edges of the doorframe in the view of the computer. And then it remains there. The forest sways in the distance, moved by a wind that doesn't seem to have any effect on the fog that sits low on the ground. Then the swaying gets faster and faster. And that's when you realize that the frame is fast-forwarding through the events that transpired here. You don't see her often, but you see the additions to the house that happen within the frame. Irene adds pieces to the house. And out there, Lylah somehow manages to build towers out in the forest, that appear high above the tops of the trees. You wonder what the world out there looks like or who is building the towers that Lylah is obviously helping with.

Eventually, you see Lylah appear in the frame and everything slows down to a normal speed.

When she walks in, you can immediately see the difference between who she was when she left and the person that has returned. Her eyes are tired. Her body is better toned. The weapon that she holds loosely in her hands is new and more deadly looking than the one that she started leaving her with. Lylah, looking more deadly, also looks like she needs to stop and breathe for a moment, but there's no time for that. There's something else that she needs to do.


	8. Chapter 7

Lylah drops a bag in the middle of the floor and then grabs a couple other items and leaves. You follow her this time. She's not out there in the world to start a fight, it looks like. She doesn't rush across the landscape either. She walks slowly with the items that she collected from her home. You are shown a message popping up in her conversations, but she doesn't look at her phone.

NP: Just be careful out there. We both know where you are about to go. And I know that you're not going to read this. But I've done all that I can for you. You're the first one to do this, so do it right.

NP: Also don't actually die.

The forest and the ruins are all around her, but as she walks ahead, the camera pulls back and shows you the world for a moment. It's grey all over with large swatches of green water. But you can see where you think Lylah is going. on the side of the planet furthest away from where the house is, there is a large tower that's fallen down. It looks a little bit like a tree that was felled, but it's a giant stone tower. It lays across the world, looking like it was built by one of the players and not as a part of the world.

But the base of the tower is where it gets interesting. The base seems to reach into the planet because there's just a gaping black hole into the planet that Lylah approaches. You zoom back in, focusing in on where Lylah stands at the edge of the tower, looking down into the pit that it's housing. There are stairs heading down and down and down into that darkness and she follows them. She goes down and down and down, following the stairs. The darkness wraps around her, but she pulls out a small stone of light and presses it into a bracelet that she's wearing that looks like something right out of a fantasy novel. That's not far off from what's really happening, you decide.

Lylah is alone, no messages are popping up on her phone. She doesn't even check them. She does take a moment to sit on the stairs and relax before standing up and walking further down. The darkness and emptiness seem more like a mental challenge than anything else. And Lylah made it slowly but surely to the bottom of the pit. Down there, a light shines, but the light didn't seem to touch the top of the descent. Lylah removes the light stone from her bracelet as she approaches the door at the bottom. the metal of the door is bright with light. The emblem of Hope is carved out of the metal. Lylah looks at the doors, too large for a normal person and then pushes them open with surprising ease.

The room that she walks into is made of the same stone as the rest of the tower, but down here, it looks like the weather never touched the stone. All of it is bright and new and brilliant. The details carved into the stones are still visible. Stained glass fills the large wall. In the center of the room is a platform and there stands a creature. It is bipedal but looks vaguely like a dragon as it sits there. Its long tail is wrapped around a staff with wings on it. A tuft of feathers sprouts out of the tail, which matches the many wings that burst out of the back of the creature. You take a moment to count them all. You see 4 main pairs with a couple others in there, but counting them is too hard as they are all moving.

When the Denizen's eyes open and you are greeted to the light of those eyes, the screen finally tells you who this is. EUPHEME, DENIZEN OF TRIUMPH, stands before the Hope player. You've never heard of this Denizen, but you aren't too familiar with Hope players, you realize. As well, from everything that you've learned, there are plenty of denizens than any player could get.

It looks down at Lylah for a moment before sinking its head down to her level and opening its mouth. the creature talks with a voice that you can't understand. You know that Lylah understands as it is speaking the language of Hope players. But you don't need to hear the conversation to understand what's really happening. Lylah is getting an offer.

She can fight the Denizen Eupheme and destroy the Denizen to gain the end result that she is searching for. Or she can take the challenge of something else in order to gain the loot that the Denizen is hoarding here and reach the room that is hidden behind a door on the other side of the room.

Lylah does not reply to Eupheme, but holds her whip tightly, unfurling the end of it, ready to lash out. And the Denizen understands.

The battle hits like a gut punch. Lylah, in the days of running through the world, has gained some nasty skills. The powers that have come from her classpect are blended into how she fights, but even those learned skills are not enough to save her.

The Denizen swipes their staff across the field, Lylah only barely managing to get out of the way and grab hold of the staff with a flick of her whip. She wrestles it from the Denizen, sending it across the field. Eupheme roars and then rears back to slam down into Lylah, but she never reaches the girl. Lylah flicks the whip again, sending it wrapping around the Denizen's neck. And she doesn't let go. No, instead of letting go, she pulls harder and then the true might of this particular whip comes through. With a press of a button on the whip, spikes shoot out from the whip, embedding themselves in Eupheme.

The battle continues like that, slow and tough until the two of them are almost out of energy. Lylah's weapons have been broken and snapped along the way, but she doesn't give up until the Denizen falls to the ground, the golden blood flowing out of her.

When Eupheme takes her final breath, she disappears into a puff of smoke. All that's left is the pile of in-game spoils and resources to create buildings. A single golden whip lays on top of the pile. Lylah picks it up along with the rest of the resources and then heads towards the room on the other side. The door to get into the room is small, made only for a single person to pass through. The door opens to a stairway that heads down and down and down. Lylah walks down it, a streak of blood following her she walked down. You wonder why she hasn't stopped to consider her wounds when you see the platform at the bottom of the stairs. It is a stone bed, 4 corner posts on the bed and the emblem of Hope etched into the grey stone. Lylah approaches it then stumbles at the edge of it. Her arms are wrapped around the wound that she suffered during the battle. You can see bone and organ under it. She winces and pulls herself up, dragging herself onto the platform and laying there. The blood pools under her, filling the emblem of Hope and then she takes one last breath. The dual curse blessing of the battle is apparent here. This is where she will earn the last of her power and death was the only way, the curse is the pain and the stairs that she had to endure to get there.

But the deed is done. She stops moving, stops hurting. The glow takes over her body, the slab of stone, the posts of the bed. The glow flows out of the Denizen's room, piercing through the darkness of the tower's middle. And then there's a light all over the world, a place renewed. There's grass and leaves and the world looks complete once more.

And so does Lylah. She's sitting on the bed, yellow and gold outfit around her. The blood is gone from the stone and her side is stitched whole. She sits there for a moment, just feeling her limbs working again. And then she's flying forward, slamming through the doors in the Denizen's room and then up and out of the tower and into the air above her world. She looks down on it all, relieved to see that everything is where she needed it to be. Then she looks up into the sky, looking at Skaia and Propsit far above her. The adrenaline in her limbs is almost too much for her to bear and she screams in joy.

\---

Then you're looking at a different place at a later time. Darry is standing on his world, black and white outfit and red shoes standing out in the fog.

\--- inheritedPurification [IP] has begun a conversation with shadowedQuell [SQ] ---

IP: >>We need everyone out here now. Like right now. <<

SQ: ϿϾOn my way.

\--- shadowedQuell [SQ] has ended a conversation with inheritedPurification [IP] ---

And then he's off, up into the sky. The fog that blocked your vision is gone, but only for a second do you have a view of the shattered space above his planet. Bits and pieces of other people's worlds are scattered above. And then you're not there.

\---

Orson stands alone in his room, everything settled and less chaotic. There are some splatters on the ground from fighting with a bunch of monsters that got into his home, but everything is otherwise calm and collected again. On one side of the room, he has fashioned a sort of control room. There are cameras up across his planet, it looks like. He's watching everything that's going on. Then the cameras switch to other worlds. And you realize that he's wired up the whole Medium with cameras to make sure that he's able to see what they're all doing.

He sits down in the chair at the control panel and ignores every message that comes in. But he does look over to see the message that Irene sends him.

\--- nicePotato [NP] has started a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

NP: Do you really think that using a panel is going to stop all of us from fucking this up? You can't finetune a person like you can a computer or a robot, Orson.

NP: And I know you're reading these dumb messages because I would never send you a message. I've had it up to here with the antics that you've forced onto all of us just to save us.

NP: There are other ways that we could have gone about this.

NP: We're not going to win following this method that you put together for us.

NP: I hope that you're ready for this to end.

\--- nicePotato [NP] has ended a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

Orson shakes his head but doesn't answer. He catches sight of something in the cameras and turns away.

\---

HAVEN, SEER OF RAGE, stands on the Land of Ruins and Forest. She's not a God Tier like many of her friends, but she moves faster across the planets than many of the other players ever thought too. As she runs across the planet, it looks like she's flying. She's matched here by the only other person that's flying, Darry. The two of them reach the edge of the halved tower and look down into it. The light has already permeated through the darkness, but a moment later, Lylah is up and out of the hole, into the sky. She stays there for a moment and then they hear her scream.

The screen splits and you are able to see Orson, his control panel half-assembled, but he's gripping his phone and looking out the window. The light of Lylah's world is visible from his home.

On the other half of the screen, Lylah starts a conversation, just to send one message and get a single message in reply.

\--- mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

MD: She's gΘΘd. We've gΘt her. She's gΘΘd. She's alive.

PC: Thank all the gods ever to exist ever.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has ended a conversation with mythicDoubleaxe [MD] ---

Orson takes a breath and then sobs just the once. The death of the friend came to pass and she's still here, still ready to go. She's not gone forever, just for a single moment. The side of his screen fades away, leaving Lylah, Darry, and Haven alone.

Haven on the ground is messaging others, making sure that everyone knows that everything has turned out okay.

Darry is the only one that can reach Lylah up there in the sky.

DARRY: ϿϾHow do you feel?

LYLAH: >> Invincible. <<

She's all smiles and back to the happy state that she had lived in before. The knowledge of how to reach this state had weighed heavily on her as she made her way through the challenges by herself. But she knows that she's not alone, she's not dead, she's not powerless. The wounds that had brought her close to death are just faint memories in the back of her skull.

HAVEN: Hey! I was alsΘ wΘrried, but I can't fly! StΘp having a secret cΘnversatiΘn and cΘme dΘwn here.

LYLAH: >> Sorry! <<

DARRY: ϿϾGo get your own wings so you can join this party!

HAVEN: Just cΘme Θver here.

And they do. It's one of the few times that you think that they get to be happy like this. Even as they've begun their game, it's been hard to find them together. They've been spread out across the stars and their planets. Even though Orson isn't there to be as concerned as Haven is, it was one of the few times that you've seen him moved to something more than indifference. You're worried about him. He was the one that wanted to hold it all together, but he's not together at all.

Haven hugs her friend and admires the change of outfit for a couple minutes. And you take the moment to breathe. They're going to be okay, you pray to whatever deity you could.

The screen fades away, leaving only the flicker of a shadow at the edge of it. And you breathe out. You can't do this. You've thought about this over and over again.

These kids are going to die, not just for their powers, but for real. There's a universe on top of theirs and you don't think they get to make it. The session is going to get scratched, erasing them from the universe and you can't breathe knowing that.


	9. Chapter 8

Panic threatens to rise in you with the dark screen, but it flickers back to life and you see something less terrifying. You see SILAS, MAGE OF HEART, take the first step out of his home and into his world. It's a beautiful place. The sky is honeyed perfection, grass golden and flexible, even after he's stepped on it. The trees are a vibrant red and orange bunch of leaves on top of tree trunks the color of milk chocolate. Even the mater looks almost golden as it sits in a nearby pool.

The screen tells you that this paradise is called THE LAND OF WARMTH AND HONEY. Silas takes each step with a careful and slow energy, uncertainty radiating from him as he walks. His bow and arrow are clasped in his hands like he's going to have the reflexes to avoid getting hit by whatever it is that's out there. You know that he's not going to make it. You know it in your bones before the screen flashes forward and shows his death, his rebirth, the war that he takes on that isn't any of his business. You watch as he stands between two sides, trying to stop something he didn't need to get involved in. You watch as he's pulled apart by the sharp edges of weapons and hands. When the chaos settles, pieces of him remain in the empty space. Still between the two sides of dead. HEROIC DEATH. A clock somewhere chimes. It's the same honeyed color of him and his world, torn apart long before this moment. Beyond the corpse, you see the pieces of something in the dark Vastness, nameless and great and-

The screen flickers.

You're back at the beginning of him where he and his world are whole, but not the exact beginning. You can see the scars on his arm from fighting some unknown creatures out there. It looks like he's had the chance to open up more of his world and make his way towards being a true hero. He stands under one of the trees and takes a deep breath. His phone buzzes in his pocket. He checks around him before he pulls it out and reads the messages.

\--- mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] --

MD: We're trying tΘ dΘ sΘmething Θut Θn Irene's wΘrld, but it lΘΘks like it needs a piece frΘm Emile's wΘrld. Can yΘu head Θut there and grab a...

MD: HΘld Θn, I dΘn't knΘw what the thing is. CΘurt will reach Θut. I think she actually understands what the fuck is gΘing Θn.

RR: >\- ok? ->

\--- witnessSquared [WS] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

WS: haven's an idiot. this is super simple to explain.

WS: emile's world is the land oF paths and branches.

WS: there's something on one oF the trees in the inner garden that we need.

WS: but.

WS: nobel needs to be there to make sure that the plant grows. he doesn't have access to emile's world yet. can you go grab nobel and have him use the portal on your world to help us get the item?

RR: >\- sure ->

RR: >\- i need something from emiles world too, so itll be two birds with one stone ->

WS: great. thanks. let us know when you and nobel have the thing for irene's world. he knows what's going on. he's already on his way to his gate to your world.

\--- witnessSquared [WS] has ended a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

He sighs as he steps out from under the tree, but he heads out across the planet. He is already wearing his god tier clothes, those fitting of his role. But he doesn't fly across the world. He slowly strolls across it. There's a race of sheep looking creatures that meander around his planet. They seem content to remain silent amongst the hills. He doesn't acknowledge them, but they all turn to watch him as he goes. Silas waits by the gate that leads to Nobel's world. But it takes another couple minutes for Nobel to come tumbling out of the portal. He sits on the ground for a moment as he looks around before standing up and dusting himself off.

NOBEL: ξξ I forgot how beautiful your world was.

SILAS: >\- i still havent gotten over it and its all ive seen for the last couple of days ->

NOBEL: ξξ All you guys got such a better deal than me. Mine looks disgusting. I've been working on making it more beautiful, but even after getting these stupid god tier powers or whatever, nothing will grow on half of my planet.

SILAS: >\- all of us have a journey on our planet to go through. mine isnt over yet. keep working on helping your world and youll see good results one of these days. ->

The two walk in silence, stopping only when Nobel pauses to scope up a specimen from the ground and add to the growing collection in his inventory before they continue on. You haven't had a chance to see what Nobel's world looks like, but you can't wait for that day. You're certain that it has pieces from each of the other worlds, a piece of the plant life there that is going to make it look even more beautiful.

When they reach the portal, Silas gestures for Nobel to go through first. And Silas only steps through after taking one last look at his world.

On the other side, you're treated to a brand new world. The screen confirms that this is Emile's world, THE LAND OF PATHS AND BRANCHES. Silas and Nobel walk down path after path, trying to find their way to the center garden, but they only turn around and find themselves back at the gate where they started.

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has begun a conversation with arborEngineer [AE] ---

RR: >\- we got lost trying to find the inner garden on your world. weve been looped back to my gate. can you tell me how to get there? ->

AE: Yeah, i'll put it in shorthand because it's a lot. there are 48 branches that you'll go down to get to the inner gardeN.

AE: L, L, R, R, L, L, L, C, R, L, C, C.

AE: Do that 4 times. i'm working on making the paths clearer, but it's going to end up being a puzzle to fix on my end. i think we're blocked by whatever you're helping them do for irene's planeT.

RR: >\- cool. then ill try to hurry this up so that they can make all of this easier. at least, i dont have to do this again. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with arborEngineer [AE] ---

Carefully Nobel and Silas follow the path through the planet. They wander over and under whole trees. They wind their way down into a garden that's lush and beautiful. Nobel hasn't stopped talking about the plants the whole time that they've been walking.

NOBEL: ξξ I have got to get my connection to Emile's world working. There's such a variety of plants here and I want to add all of them to the gardens that I'm growing. These fruiting trees could be grafted together to make such an interesting tree.

SILAS: >\- nobel ->

NOBEL: ξξ I could make such delicious things with them too. I've started baking since we've been out here. The oven I've got is quite magical. It cooks everything perfectly in just three seconds. It's really made the act of testing recipes really quick.

SILAS: >\- nobel ->

NOBEL: ξξ I do hope that these plants aren't poisonous though. I haven't figured out how to test for that really. I could test on myself and use my powers to keep myself from dying, but that seems pointlessly difficult.

SILAS: >\- hey do you think you can snap out of whatever dream youre having to tell me which one of these fruits or plants is for you. i have other business i need to do here too ->

NOBEL: ξξ Ah! Right! We're looking for the fruit that glows here. There should be one for each of us, but we need Irene's blue one.

The inner garden doesn't have any trees with fruits that glow, but Silas stops to look at a small and unassuming tree that they find. There's nothing growing on it, but it looks like it isn't fully grown yet.

SILAS: >\- can you do that...life voodoo on this? ->

Nobel holds out his hands and green energy pours out from it and into the tree. Silas steps back as the tree grows taller and fuller and then 12 fruits pop into existence. One for each of the colors that have been assigned to the players. One for each of the aspects they carry. Silas jumps up and grabs the magenta pink plant that is his own color. He sets that on the ground and then jumps up and pulls down the fruit for Irene, which Nobel cradles gently. Silas stares up at the tree and then tries to jump up and grab another one of the fruits, Court's bright red apple.

But the tree's branches reach out and grab him before he can get up too high. When the tree sets him down, Nobel laughs.

NOBEL: ξξ I think this might be the game telling you to stop trying to jump ahead.

SILAS: >\- yeah, but i was hoping it wouldnt do that. id like to not have to make this journey again ->

Silas picks up his own fruit. The screen fast forwards to after Nobel and Silas have parted ways. Silas is standing on his honey world and he sets down the plant on the ground. It takes root and then a tree erupts from the fruit, turning into leaves and branches of the magenta and pink of his god tier. Hanging on the tree's branches are items that he's been looking for everywhere. They unlock new areas, new treasures, and maybe some of this will finally lead the way to the treasures that he's needed the most. Then it flicks forward to Nobel and Silas standing together just on the other side of a gate that leads to Irene's world. THE LAND OF THOUGHT AND GLOW lies before you. It's easy to see where Haven, Irene, and Court are waiting. They're pinpoints of non-glowing items in a world that's overflowing with light. The world reacts to Nobel and Silas as they walk across the world to get to the three girls. Magenta and pink and brown and green swirl under their feet. Silas's colors are sharp edges and spiky while Nobel's are diffused and calm swirls around him. As they approach the girls, the intensity of the colors hit harder, combining with the red, the blue, the purple of the others. And for a moment, Silas sees a world around where they're standing, but then it's gone. Irene meets his eyes like she knows what he saw, but neither of them says anything.

HAVEN: Where's the fruit?

SILAS: >\- nobel has it. hell help her plant it in a minute, i guess. when youre looking for stuff for your own world, check the plant that grows out of the fruit that you can find in emiles garden. ->

COURT: you could have brought them to us.

NOBEL: ξξ Hehehe.

NOBEL: ξξ That tree wouldn't let him grab more than the one for Irene that I needed and the one that he needed.

IRENE: Nobel stop chatting! I want to plant it over here.

HAVEN: Fuck. I dΘn't want tΘ have tΘ try and find my way thrΘugh that place.

SILAS: >\- just message emile after you finish this. hell be able to help you find the path. and he said that after doing irenes stuff, he should be able to actually finish the puzzle that he needed to make everything go a little bit smoother ->

COURT: why can't I just wait and grab it aFter the paths are done and then also grab hers when i go?

SILAS: >\- did you miss the part where the tree wouldnt let me grab yours??? i think it will only let you grab the one that youre supposed to. for some of us, that's our own, but for some like irene and nobel, i think that means someone elses. ->

COURT: eh, i'll just take haven with me in the Future so that we can do it at the same time.

Silas makes face, but then turns and watches as Irene takes the fruit and sets it on the ground. She steps back and watches as the plant struggles to take root in her world made of light. Nobel reaches out and gives it the extra little push that it needs to really take root and become the full tree that it needs to be. The plant takes on some of the glow of her world, but it is decidedly just like Silas's in that it takes the colors of her god tier outfit instead of anything else that it can take from that world. The branches are full of things that so many people would need. Everyone is so excited by the tree and everything that it holds that they start shouting. All of them but Silas. His pocket is buzzing. He wants to ignore everything that's happening outside of this moment, but he can't. The sound is too insistent. He has to look at it. He wanders a little way from the celebration, the spikes of colors to become a pool of magenta far away.

\--- [] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

: I'm afraid that this is the only time that I'm going to be able to speak with you.

: Your part in the battle ends too early for me to spend more time talking to you. Your drive to do more is too small, I can see that even from here.

: But every part has its place and that means that I have something that I want to tell you.

RR: >\- uh ->

RR: >\- so ->

RR:>\- okay ->

RR: >\- youre telling me that im going to die soon, in a battle, and that you want to talk to me, but just once and not because i matter ->

RR: >\- can we just pause and go back to the part where you somehow know that i will die sooner rather than later? ->

: There really isn't time to talk about all of it, but I have allowed time for some explanation.

: You may call me CYAN, Silas. You are one of the last players in your session that I have decided to speak with. Court and Orson, in particular, know who I am. But this conversation with you isn't about them and what they're doing. Your place in this story is just as a bit player, a nonsense little distraction of the plot. You're never going to shine like the others, Mage.

RR: >\- none of this is helping your case of making me want to listen to you ->

: I am a piece of the world that you live in, but I am not human or a player in this space. I am what you would call a Guardian, your world's only guardian, in fact. I have been tasked with trying to ensure that you are able to get to the right ending of this world. I'm here to make sure the key players get to their positions as quickly as possible. There are some pieces that still need to be adjusted and you need to help me.

RR: >\- right ending? for us or for the game? or for something else entirely? ->

: I am not at liberty to share that with you.

RR: >\- then im not at liberty to help you. im here to help my friends and if your plan in anyway fucks us over, then youre just shit out of luck. ->

: Whatever you believe makes your efforts worth it in the end, Silas, doesn't match up with the larger goal of this universe. If you want the end of this, then listen to me.

: Your friends will not be able to help you. Many of them are already working in ways for me so that they can reach the best ending possible for this world and for the worlds that come after it. No matter what you do between now and your end in that battle, you will die. And there is no amount of training that you can do to prevent that. The people involved already are leagues ahead of you. But what you do now has further meaning if you just take a second to listen to me.

: There is a duty that you have forgotten. There's a place on your planet, a building that you haven't entered for a myriad of reasons. Complete the tasks set there, and maybe you will find something worthwhile.

RR: >\- the ectobiology center on the other side? ->

RR: >\- thats just fucking nonsense and none of it matters now that were here ->

: It is integral to the world that you complete the tasks there. Orson will be more than happy to speak to you about it if you want another perspective.

RR: >\- whoever the fuck you are. whatever the fuck youre doing. i hope that you fail. i cant tell if youre good or bad, but i know that whatever youre doing, its not going to help us ->

: Thank you for your time, Silas. I hope that you keep your friends alive and well as long as possible.

\--- [] has ended a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

Silas stares at his screen for a moment before he waves goodbye to his friends. Only Nobel notices, which stings more than it should. The girls are all caught up in something. Silas isn't necessary for whatever Irene is planning. He briefly thinks that they are indeed leagues ahead of him before he squashes the feeling down and moves on. For the first time since he became a god, he flies, wanting to escape this glowing world and all it reflects as quickly as possible. Behind him, a wake of magenta spikes radiates up and out of the ground. They still ripple behind him as he disappears through the portal and back to his honey-sweet world.


	10. Chapter 9

Silas lands when he's back on the side of the portal that is his world. And from there he walks across the planet, enjoying the sight of it, the smell of it, the everything of it. But all of that comes to a stop when he comes across the building that that thing was talking about. It's cold and metal and silver, unlike anything else there. It juts out of the bottom of a hill, hidden unless you've wandered the whole planet as Silas has. He stares at it for a minute before walking in.

Inside, the room is full of contraptions and machines, none of which make much sense to him. He looks at the screens, sees what the machine readouts are telling him. When he can't make sense of it, he pulls out his phone.

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

RR: >\- I was told by some strange person named Cyan that I really needed to deal with this whole ectobiology thing. I already checked the guide, but there was nothing about ectobiology in there. And now that I'm here in the place, I don't know what the fuck is happening.

PC: Ah yes. Ectobiology. It ωas...confusing. I didn't ωant to share it ωith everyone, but I did have a guide that I've set aside for you. I think this ωill really tell you hoω to deal ωith getting everything done smoothly.

paperbackCalibrator has uploaded a file Ectobiology Nonsense for Ωhoever Has That Building.doc

RR: >\- you... ->

RR: >\- you didn't know who was going to have the building? ->

PC: I ωas told that it ωas likely going to be one of a group of three people, but beyond that, I really ωasn't sure. So I just....named it. ->

RR: >\- sure. ->

PC: Ωhy do you sound so doωn?

RR: >\- i was also told by that cyan person that i was going to die pretty early on compared to the rest of you, so that might be in my head or something. you know, death isn't really what i was hoping to do with my life. ->

PC: I'll try to make sure that you don't die.

RR: >\- thanks. ->

PC: I mean it.

RR: >\- i know you do. ->

PC: Then stop acting like you're a kicked puppy.

RR: >\- i don't think cyan was wrong though. i think that no matter what effort you put into, i'm going to die and no one is going to be able to stop it. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

Silas sat on the ground, his phone open to the ectobiology document, but he does nothing. He's just trying to grapple with the fact that he has a decided fate that was just waiting out there for him. There's no reason to dwell, he decides, and he looks at the document. But the panic attack doesn't end there.

You sit in uncomfortable silence as Silas deals with whatever this panic attack has become. When he gets up to work again, he's crying. But he doesn't say anything as he works through everything. You watch as he creates 24 kids, then teleports them off to other locations. Once the room is empty, he walks outside and goes to sit near a golden lake. Mortality is staring him in the face. And all he can do is spend more time looking off into the distance and enjoying this place. You see his death for a second on the screen, a still from the more violent portion of the fight. His hand holds a knife, the blood hangs still in space. Hands hold onto his limbs, tearing him apart. He died alone in this. No one helped him, only hurt him.

Dying alone like that sounds familiar, too familiar. You shake off that unsettling feeling. Other players have died by themselves. You're just remembering how traumatic it is. That's it.

\---

The screen flips now to the last player of the game. KYRIE, SYLPH OF LIGHT, looks exactly like you would think she would look like with that kind of title. She is absolutely radiant. You think that's mainly due to the outfight that she's wearing. She's covered in layers of orange and yellow fabric and she seems to glow on her own. She's at the peak of her power. You didn't see how she came into it, but you can see the pain of it etched on her face as she stands on the platform where she was just revived. You know that she's tried her best, but there's something weighing her down in her head. She knows more than the others do and you can tell then and there that there's no happy ending in all the information that she has in her head. She takes a deep breath and jumps off the platform and pulls out her phone. She flies as she types and then she lands on top of a grassy hill. On her phone is a message to every single person that we have been introduced to before.

\--- solarisRebirth [SR] has begun a conversation... ---

\--- ...with witnessSquared [WS] ---

SR: We cΔn't win.

\--- ...with arborEngineer [AE] ---

SR: I know thΔt we wΔnted this to be worked out peΔcefully.

\--- ...with inheritedPurification [IP] ---

SR: But we cΔn't win thΔt wΔy.

\--- ...with reddestRequiem [] ---

SR: Δnd if we do this...

\--- ...with starcrossedChaos [SC] ---

SR: If we do it this wΔy...

\--- ...with enchantedBee [EB] ---

SR: ...we Δre going to fΔil.

\--- ...with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

SR: We Δre ΔctuΔlly going to fΔil no mΔtter whΔt.

\--- ...with mythicDoubleaxe [MD] ---

SR: PleΔse, someone Δnswer me.

\--- ...with wrongedGuardian [WG] ---

SR: PleΔse!

\--- ...with nicePotato [NP] ---

SR: We Δren't going to be Δble to stop them Δnd there's Δ bigger threΔt thΔt we need to deΔl with!

\--- ...with shadowedQuell [SQ] ---

SR: But we Δll reΔd the rules! Δnd I don't know if you've reΔlized it, but I hΔve.

SR: WE CΔN'T WIN.

But no one answers.

No one answers because they're out in the vastness of the space between their worlds, arguments breaking down and friends now on the other sides of a fight that ultimately didn't matter. They're all in a fight that they didn't expect they would be in charge of, but here they are.

The screens adjust and now you see 12 views on the screen. You can see everything all happening at the same moment. You see Skaia above them. You see the emptiness of the Medium around them, but then in a moment, you see colors coming into focus in those empty spaces. Blue- and green-clad figures on the side of Derse, the purple moon at the furthest edges of this place. Red- and yellow-clad figures on the side of Prospit, the yellow orb that has circled around Skaia in the center of this. But you can't see Prospit or Derse in any of these images. You wonder if the two planet moons are gone from this place.

The fighting that is on the verge of happening across the sky seems to be the end result of something that began long before this group of teenagers made it into the medium. It isn't really the integral parts of the game that they need to be solving, but there the players are, distracted by a side plot that they think fits the way that they want they want to play the game. Five of the players on one side, five of them on the other. Kyrie standing alone on her planet, too late to really stand a chance of stopping them from going any further than this. Silas, undecided, sees the message at the same time as everyone else, but he's the only one that takes it to heart. He rushes through the Medium and into the space between the forces. He uses all the power he can muster to try and slow both sides down.

But no one else listens and the power is just not enough.

Far away, a yellow-orange planet is torn asunder by something dark and tangible, but invisible. It blends into the darkness of the void, but you can just barely see the edges of it as it passes through the planet. And in a moment, Silas matches his planet.

Kyrie sees it as it happens. Too little too late. No ability to fix the gap in their motivations, she couldn't do anything. She closes her eyes and throws her phone into the planet below her feet. The force of the phone going down crushes the phone and buries it into the world that she's standing on. From the spot where the phone disappeared, something metal grows out of the grow, eye cameras blinking at her.

You zoom out of the view and see Kyrie's planet, THE LAND OF SCIENCE AND ECHOES.

This whole world is an empty graveyard of metal buildings and crazy looking pieces of metal that stick up and out of the ground. She sits down on the ground, turning the new growth away from her so that the eyes can only look away.

Her sniffles echo across the landscape. Had she still had her phone, she would have seen the messages from the others.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has continued a conversation with solarisRebirth [SR] ---

PC: Ωe...

PC: I...

PC: I didn't think ωe ωould do this. I didn't think ωe ωould go this far."

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has ended a conversation with solarisRebirth [SR] ---

\--- wrongedGuardidan [WG] has continued a conversation with solarisRebirth [SR] ---

WG: i could have stopped this. Ϡ

WG: AND I DIDN'T. Ϡ

WG: i know that he was closer to you than i am. i'm sorry. i didn't mean to fuel this. Ϡ

WG: i'm sorry. Ϡ

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has ended a conversation with solarisRebirth [SR] ---

Kyrie flies back to her home and goes straight to her computer. She turns it back on and opens the messages, skimming them and then moving onto a different tab. There's something else out there. The fighting is still raging, but the players have retreated, the sudden death making all of them suddenly aware of what they were really involved in. She rubs her face and then puts her hands on the keyboard.

\--- A Memo has been created. ---

witnessSquared [WS] has joined.

arborEngineer [AE] has joined.

inheritedPurification [IP] has joined.

reddestRequiem [RR] has joined.

starcrossedChaos [SC] has joined.

enchantedBee [EB] has joined.

solarisRebirth [SR] has joined.

paperbackCalibrator [PC] has joined.

mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has joined.

wrongedGuardian [WG] has joined.

nicePotato [NP] has joined.

shadowedQuell [SQ] has joined.

reddestRequiem [RR] has been removed from the memo.

SR: I know thΔt Δll of you Δre currently thinking over the life choices thΔt hΔve gotten us here.

SR: But we don't hΔve time for thΔt.

SR: There's something else out there. I cΔn see it Δ little bit from here. But I sΔw it destroy Silas’s plΔnet. I think it's coming for the rest of us.

PC: Ωhat kind of creature is it?

SR: The only thing thΔt mΔkes sense is thΔt it is some kind of horrorterror from the Furthest Ring, but even with the Δbility to know literΔlly everything, I don't know Δnything Δbout thΔt creΔture.

SC: xX What do you mean you don't know anything about that creature? Xx

SC: xX I know about it. It's a creature of pure Void. Xx

SR: Then YOU tell us how to beΔt it. It is not in my volume of knowledge.

SC: xX I...don't think we can beat it. Xx

SC: xX I think this is one of those things that we either just survive by luck or we run away from the situation rather than beating it. Xx

IP: >> But can't you do anything with your Void powers to help us beat it? <<

SC: xX It's not that simple. Xx

The two screens to the side of the main one shift. No longer are you stuck in the purple and black void space that you saw before. In the screens, you can see the view of the remnants of a purple planet. You see tentacles reach out and inspect the space where Derse used to be. And after it senses nothing there that it deems worthy of destroying, it reaches out to the next closest thing, the warm honey planet that belonged to Silas. You watch as several tentacles coil around the planet and then one large tentacle slams down into it. The pieces are scattered.

And then you hear something truly menacing. You feel it before you hear any tone that can register to your ears. The vibrations are deep and loud through the screens. You can only imagine how loud they were to the players of the session. And then you remember something else in the midst of the anxious feeling in your chest.

What this screen is showing you has already happened, even if it is continuing to happen in front of you. There is nothing you can do. That creature, that rumbling call of a horrorterror larger than anything you could have imagined before, has already done the damage that will come to pass.

You dig your nails into your palms, trying to stop yourself from disappearing into the feeling of anxiety in your chest. But we know that this feeling will eventually come to pass. I can promise you that no matter what happens here, this too will pass, even if you feel incredibly alone in this observatory that looks up into space and shows you only what it wants to.


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 4/13 everyone!

You take a deep breath and try to stop digging your nails into your arms. When you stop doing that, you listen to the sound of the creature again, the reverberating sounds of it don't make any coherent sense, but you know that there has to be a message in it, even if you can't understand it.

SC: xX that creature out there... Xx

SC: xX we aren't going to be able to destroy it. i can feel that in my bones. Xx

SC: xX we have to do something else, anything else. Xx

Karin takes off from where she was sitting quietly, watching what was happening out there. Se moves through the Medium like she's invisible. It unnerves you, but you can only watch as she continues to move through everything. She doesn't look like she's really part of the world until she reaches the edge of it all. She floats through the remnants of Silas's world and then she sits there, staring into the space beyond. Your camera focuses on just her for a moment and it's there that you realize that you can finally see the monstrous creature that was out there. In fact, you can see Karin on the side monitors. The side monitors seem to be focused on something else, but you can see her in the corner of it.

As the creature becomes a clearer image in the main screens, you realize something horrible. And Karin seems to see it all at the same time.

The creature in front of you is a being of limbs. You can't see the face of it within everything that's wiggling in front of it. But there's something more disturbing about it than the appearance of being a giant spaghetti being. The individual arms look rough, bumpy, textured. Karin sees it from far away, but when a tentacle passes by her, she can really see it. The texture on the tentacles isn't just there to be interesting. It's faces and body and limbs. There are layers of them on the creature, you suspect. Some spots look like they have been completely consumed by the creature, but there are some spots that look like they're just stuck on. Two of them, in particular, make Karin start floating backward and away from the creature. The two bodies look like they're mid-fight, still trying to stop something that already came to pass. And scraps of their clothing still cling to their shapes, even though most of their skin has been turned into the same dark purple color as the creature itself.

A Doom player. A Mind player. Neither you nor Karin can tell what exactly what they were just by the scraps of fabric that are still dangling off of their forms, but you can feel it. These people had earned heroic deaths. There's no other way that they could have died out here. Dread rolls through you and Karin at the same time. But you can't dart away like she does.

The creature takes notice of the sudden erratic behavior and all the limbs begin to focus on the spot where she used to be. In a split second reaction, she creates shapes that fill the spaces around her as she flies. The limbs and tentacles bump into the shapes before getting close to her. She manages to get away with only a couple bruises and cuts at the end of it all. She flies so fast to get back to a safe spot on her own planet. Anyone that she flies past can see the dread on her face. They can see the outline of the creature more clearly as it lurches out of the pure Void and into the places where the light of Skaia can hit it. When it first hits the light, it shrinks back, just for the moment.

SC: xX there. Xx

SC: xX it's eaten... Xx

SC: xX hold on. Xx

SC: xX FUCK. Xx

SC: xX it's eaten other players. tons of them. i don't know where from. some are recent. FUCKING FUCK. we're dead. Xx

AE: A mind player is out there on it, isn't therE?

The implication hangs heavy on all of them. You can again see the view of all the players, but no one is typing on their keyboards or into their phones. No, they're all just staring at that spot where the creature is. Karin doesn't even ask why Emile knows this. She assumes that it's just something that he's felt in the air, something that seemed out of place that now suddenly makes sense.

That creature is coming for them, they know. But it's more than that. They aren't going to be able to out-think it.

As you watch them, you feel something on the back of your neck. A dread that won't go away no matter how much you realize that there's nothing after you at the moment. The inevitability of the situation has done something to your head. You know that this is going to end in death, but there's something deeper in the threat.

You touch your throat. Anxiety, stress, worry float through your head, making it hard to focus. But the screen seems to sense that you're not able to take in information at the moment and it pauses, waiting for you to come back. This barely registers in your head as your breathing gets harder. It feels like your lungs aren't working and that your heart is trying to make up for it by pumping harder. You close your eyes and stop watching it, but the story has an end, whether you see it. You can look away, but it will keep going.

No matter what YOU do, the GAME GOES ON.

And that's when you realize that this isn't just about this session in front of you. There's something going on in your life. Something that had been forgotten. You'll have to deal with it eventually, but it's a real thing, not something fake that you're not going to see. You're not panicking because these kids are going to die. That upsets you, but there's something else that's causing this reaction in you. You take a deep breath, as deeply as your body will let you. As your heart slows down, you open your eyes and look at the screen. You have to finish this. After all, the game goes on no matter what you do and you owe it to these kids to watch the end of it. You owe it to Silas at the very least.

The screens show you the players trying to get the citizens of Derse and Prospit to turn away from their fighting to fight the creature, but they don't move. They don't turn on each other again, either. But the humans' attempts to get them to help fall on deaf and fearful ears.

Orson and Emile come together on Orson's planet in the headquarters that he has managed to put together during the course of their time in the game.

ORSON: There has to be a way that we can really get away from all of this. There has to be something that we can do to deal with this.

EMILE: Try that screen. no, if we move there... that one doesn't work eitheR...

ORSON: Ωhat if ωe go...

EMILE: I don'T...

ORSON: ...

EMILE: I don't think we can win. i don't think there's a way for us to be safe. we're going to die. we're going to actually die here and now. there's no second game for us to play in this righT?

ORSON: Are you trying to fucking joke right noω?

EMILE: Did you want me to just take my potential death really simply and not try to make fun of it or do something to keep myself from fucking panicking like you are right noW?

There's no part of the game that's going to help them. They can't escape into a second metagame. They can't get out of this. There's no backup file, no second save. These two with all their collective power can't find a way out of the situation. And that's more terrifying than you expected.

In this chaos of panic, something happens. You see Irene, right at the center of the screen. The whole screen fuzzes over with static. You realize that you're looking at her and she's looking back at you. She isn't just looking through you like there isn't a camera there. She is looking into whatever is functioning as a camera and looking directly at you. She winks and then the screen goes blank. It flickers back through the game, going back and back and back and back until you're somewhere before all of this, somewhere far away from the disaster.

\---

Haven is asleep. But her eyes are open and she is running across a purple world. Cathedral buildings are wildly sticking out of the ground and each other, making it hard to find a clear path to run across the planet. You can see the world this time around. You've seen Haven asleep before and you understood vaguely where she was, but you weren't sure what was really happening on the other side. Now you can see her on the planet at the edge of the Medium.

As your screen zooms out, you are treated to the sight of the planet on fire. There aren't even any Derse citizens around panicking about the fires. There's no one but Haven out there who doesn't even seem interested in maybe taking care of the fire. She's just running, flying, away.

But then the screen goes out even further. You can see the ships hovering over the planet. The citizens aren't trying to put out the fires because they're too busy being angry. There are Prospit ships nearby. This seems to be the final straw in the eternal fight that has raged between the Prospit and Derse citizens. And it looks like the fighting went further than you've seen it go before the players are actually in the game. The war is raging in front of you. Haven can see and participate, but the extent of her actions doesn't seem to be apparent here.

Haven opens her mouth to say something, but in the pause, the fire behind her catches up. The heat of it catches onto her clothing and then Derse is gone from view. Haven is sitting up in her room, alone. She lays back down, closing her eyes again as she lays down, but there's nothing there for her to see. The other side of the camera remains blank. The dream is gone. For a moment you are shown the image of the moon, but it's distorted like the camera wasn't really able to focus on what it was seeing like this camera was repurposed from somewhere else. There's a burning body in the street where you can see. But based on the fires around the world, there are other burning bodies elsewhere that you just haven't been able to see.

It looks like this time around the citizens didn't care that there were humans on their worlds. They were just part of the landscape and not an important feature for them to pay attention to.

Waking up from dreamless sleep, Haven sits up and takes a deep breath. She grabs her laptop off the ground and finds a conversation with one of her friends that she opens.

\--- mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has continued a conversation with arborEngineer [AE] ---

MD: Emile, I need help. I've already talked tΘ Kyrie abΘut this, sΘ please dΘn't try tΘ tell me tΘ gΘ tΘ Kyrie nΘw abΘut this.

MD: And I knΘw that it wΘn't make a lΘt Θf sense because yΘu tΘld me that yΘu dΘn't dream like I dΘ.

MD: But since ΘrsΘn made the decisiΘn tΘ play this game with us, I just...there's that place Θut in space that I dream in. Derse I think it's called. I was invΘlved... I was there. There's a war Θut there.

MD: I think I died.

MD: And I knΘw that Irene is dreaming in the same place. And I dΘn't knΘw if there's anything I can dΘ fΘr her there nΘw, but can yΘu please tell her that there's sΘmething gΘing Θn and that she shΘuldn't get caught Θut there withΘut sΘme sΘrt Θf way tΘ defend herself.

MD: I knΘw yΘu talk tΘ her periΘdically and that she wΘn't listen tΘ me if it's just me saying it tΘ her.

AE: I can tell her, but she is irene and she rarely listens to any of us unless she already had the idea in her head to begin witH.

AE: Did you try dreaming agaiN?

MD: It wasn't there anymΘre. It was just an empty vΘid fΘr me.

AE: Okay, i'll let irene know that something's happened and that she should be careful. but who knows if it will do any gooD.

AE: She's always getting into weird things when we tell her not to get into theM.

MD: I'd rather try than live with the guilt Θf dΘing nΘthing.

\--- arborEngineer [AE] has ended a conversation with mythicDoubleaxe [MD] ---

Haven tries to take no offense to the way that Emile ended the conversation since she can't blame him. It's late or early or something. He's probably exhausted. Haven takes a deep breath and tries to focus. There has to be something else that she can do. She can't pester Emile anymore. He gets enough shit from the rest of the group and it's not your place to pile that onto him now.

You watch Haven think for a moment more before the screen shifts. A buzz fills the air, quiet at first. As it grows louder and louder and louder, everything goes a little bit crazy. The screen doesn't seem to know what it's doing or where it wants to take you.

Every time it flickers, it shows you things that you think it shouldn't be showing you and adjust to show you different angles of places that you have seen before. These look like things that you weren't meant to see. Things that you were meant to be unaware of that could change the way that you looked at the whole story. Whatever is happening, has something to do with Irene. She is the only one that seemed to actually see you. She's the one finding a way to show you what you are seeing.

She's showing you what you would have never been allowed to see. The small things that wouldn't have mattered in the grand scheme are going to be presented to you. They're not...the plot of this story. But they add something. Whatever she shows you is going to be unpleasant, you think. You know that this game never does anything good for the people that play it. A tingle of dread trails down your neck. The worry has settled into your gut. This story isn't about being happy. This story isn't even about you, so you will have to take your time to understand what it's showing you and try not to impose your personal life and your personal worries onto the event in front of you.

The screen settles slowly, piece by piece. Nobel is on the screen again, but it's just him. And he's in that garden. He's humming away as he works on the garden, staring down at all the plants that he's managed to cultivate in his garden. You don't think that Nobel is blind to the things that will come to pass. You think that he's fully aware of the way that his friends will fall apart. He might've had a kernel of hope in him. Maybe that was something that he got from talking to Kyrie fairly often.

The garden that you see him in is the same one that you first saw him in, but the camera pulls out and you realize that this isn't just a garden. It's an epicenter. The planet that you are looking at is called THE LAND OF SOIL AND DESOLATION. You're confused by the name because there's quite a bit of life out there. Plants from all sorts of different places are growing on this planet. Large butterflies float across the surface of the planet and you can't help but watch on in fascination. He wanders away from his home and wades through the planet's lush greens. Now that the gardens are full, he makes his way into a building. Just before he walks in, the plants seem to sway towards the building, brushing up against it and causing something to happen. The doors open before him as he walks in. The building is dark, but the lamps light up as he walked to the end of a hall where an elevator waits for him. He gets in and stands there patiently as it descends. Based on how long it takes, you think that this is taking him all the way to the center of his planet. When he gets to the bottom, he holds tightly onto his trusty mirror and enters the large door that leads the way to his Denizen.

NOBEL: ξξ Vita.

The word tumbles out of Nobel's mouth as he stares up at the creature. She's beautiful, a winding path of plants that seem both familiar and alien to you, like a book's version of a garden monster. Before Nobel can even think to ask a question, she reacts. Vita creates a fight that Nobel cannot beat. And only when he thoroughly understands that there's no way for him to win does she offer the trade of something else. Nobel has no other option but to say yes. He's hurt, bleeding, and broken. Death is upon him. He doesn't need this fight to go any further.

When Vita allows him to pass by her, he goes to the true center of his planet, he finds the platform where he is meant to die. He climbs on top of it, smearing blood across every surface as he gets there. Nobel lays there and stares up into the stone ceiling. He's dying, but it's slow and painful and there are other people that could help him with this. He pulls out his phone and types using the one hand that isn't clutching at his body.

\--- enchantedBee [EB] has begun a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

EB: ξξ Orson.

EB: ξξ I need help.

PC: I’m busy.

EB: ξξ I am on my platform. I think I'm dying.

EB: ξξ I know I'm dying. I can't kill myself. I need help.

PC: Oh

PC: Okay. That changes things.

PC: I have time for something like this. I kneω that you ωeren't going to be able to do this part alone.

EB: ξξ Do I need to do this myself? Is it not going to work if you do this instead?

PC: It ωorks the same. I think.

EB: ξξ Can you come and help, please?

PC: I can't get to you faster than it ωould take you to die.

EB: ξξ I can't do this alone.

PC: There are things going on up here too. Ωe can't just stop all of our plans to make sure that you die quickly and painlessly. It's a cruel thing to say, but it's true. And you either need to speed it up or you ωill have to live through this sloω painful death.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has ended a conversation with enchantedBee [EB] ---

Nobel sits alone on the platform, laying and staring up at the ceiling. His phone is on the ground, the screen shattered. He can't make his arms work well enough to even pick up his weapon. The edge would be sharp enough to kill him, but it's too late for that it looks like. You can't watch this. It makes you sick. You couldn't have imagined that Nobel would have died like this, alone and in pain.

Eventually, the death does come and you can see tears streaming down his face as it comes. And when it's over, he's clean and pristine. He stands up and picks up his phone and then stands there for a second more before he pukes. He's just as sick as you are with this whole situation. He's not happy to be this. He's not happy to suffer. This was not a religious awakening. This was just pain. It was too much. His broken phone pings and he picks it up to look at the message.

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has begun a conversation with enchantedBee [EB] ---

RR: >\- are you okay? i felt something weird and i knew that it wasn't me feeling it. orson seemed to think it was you. ->

EB: ξξ I'm sorry. It was me. It was my fault. I went god tier.

RR: >\- i knew that you weren't planning on killing your denizen, so if you're god tier now... ->

EB: ξξ I was already dying. She didn't give me a choice at the beginning to not fight. I was injured. But I couldn't...

EB: ξξ I feel like I've failed somehow.

RR: >\- death of any kind probably does that to a person, even when it won't really affect their future. you'll be okay. you're okay now. ->

EB: ξξ But will I feel this broken forever?

RR: >\- i can't tell you what you're going to feel. but you're not a failure for what you've done here. this is more than anyone would have expected from a bunch of kids like us. you have to remember that this is not what we were originally born to survive. your brain isn't going to be able to process things like normal. ->

EB: ξξ You're right.

EB: ξξ It's just so tough.

RR: >\- focus on the things you can do to help make sure we get through this. ->

RR: >\- let that be your main direction. ->

RR: >\- really, don't even let that weight too heavily on you. no matter what happens, we all did our best. and maybe something will change so that we win. maybe something won't. regardless, you did everything that you could nobel and i'm proud of you. i wish i could have been there to help you. ->

EB: ξξ If we don't win, then this will all have been for nothing.

EB: ξξ I can't live with that kind of life.

RR: >\- not to get too morbid, but you won't be around to think about it we don't win this. you won't be here. i won't be here. nothing will be here, really. ->

EB: ξξ But I can't keep getting dragged through all of this shit with all of you pretending like it's going to somehow help me or make me think that I'm going to find my way. I can't do this. I can't be there kind of person. I can't live a life like that.

RR: >\- talk to orson and to darry if you need extra help. all i can really do is be here for you to talk to. but it doesn't sound like you want to be talked to or listened to. ->

EB: ξξ Fuck off with all this.

\--- enchantedBee [EB] has ended a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

It looks like there were cracks in everyone's armor. Silas and Nobel both needed someone probably, but they're 16 or 17 and nothing makes sense in a place like this. Your heart aches for both of them. Both of them going through breakdowns, not certain of how to deal with it, not certain if there's a way to deal with all of it. You wonder how many times they did things like this. Where they don't address their issues and bottle them up. You saw them talk and interact and sometimes get to the heart of the problem, but was it like this more often than not?

You take a breath, letting out the one that you were holding so tightly in your lungs. Seeing people go through this reminds you or other things and other people (both of which that you would very much not remember right now or ever again), but it also reminds you of the people that the creature in the void was holding onto.

What was the point of what they did when it just drew them to this place?

You can't focus on anything beyond Nobel right now. He's standing alone in that underground space and you feel physically ill with the amount of anxiety that you have for him. You haven't seen him die, but that doesn't mean that it's not coming. He looks down at his phone again, the broken screen of it. Then he turns and looks at the stairs to get out. He looks scared. He looks like the human kid that you know he is. And you know that it's tough growing up in this game and you don't think anyone will ever understand that better than you.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the world is scary. things are tough. I have not been vocal anywhere on accounts related to this work. but black lives matter. if you don't agree, please leave my work.

The screen clips once more to Silas. You already know how this ends and what comes for him. But it's here that you see that it was destined. There was a path that started years ago that was leading him this way, but this wasn't something that you were shown before. It's the barest of whispers at the edge of his life. But now that you are given the full scope, you can see it clearly. His death at the hands of god-like teenagers was set by a supremely dumb argument about nothing.

As you watch the scene fast forward, you try to remind yourself that these are children. You can hardly remember how old you are. Your face looked young, but you feel ancient and removed. But you clearly remember that age. You remember being young and angry and so full of everything that the smallest thing could have set you off into a spiral of rage, anxiety, or depression. Everything was all at once too much and all that you knew. So the path that led them here makes sense. You understand them. You know that they wouldn't take another step in the direction that you think is right.

Besides, you can't touch them, can't rewind them back to the time before they made their decisions, and show them that it was wrong. You can't tell them in this memory of a memory that they needed to do something else. You could have been there to help them, but now you're just a viewer outside of a screen, looking at a replay of something that has happened time and time before. And you can never touch them.

Silas's death was written into the structure of this session. Even with your input, you can tell that he would have made some decision that put him in the middle. All those reactions afterward to his torn body and destroyed planet, they all realized the price of this game then. And it was always going to take a death to get them to really look. But your presence here can't change that. The Queen of Wands seemed to think that just watching could change the outcome of this and maybe the rest of them. But you aren't sure if it was you that she was talking to. You think that some of them might be able to see whatever portal is letting you look in. There were some glances in your direction like they knew. But you're not certain. But there are stutters in the fabric of everything as well. They're worse now, but you think that it's your fault. Or at least it's the fault of the cameras looking in.

Of all of them, Irene has looked into your eyes with the most conviction. And as the breath player, this playing with the point of view seems like it's her doing more than anyone else in there. She understood that there was someone that needed to see something. And even if she didn't understand until now, she's doing her best. The jumping around, the start and stop of it all. She's trying to show you something, but even with her powers unlocked, she hasn't found the strength to truly break down the story into the pieces you need to see. She's getting you closer. And she has always known that you needed this, even if she didn't know who you were.

But the rest, they don't seem to see. Their story is the one that is laid out in front of you.

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

WG: So uh. Ϡ

RR: >\- no. ->

WG: We have to. Ϡ

RR: >\- no we don't. ->

WG: It wasn't just his feelings you hurt. Ϡ

RR: >\- i am not apologizing to any of them. if you think otherwise, then you're crazy. ->

WG: You can't just not. We're supposed to be working together as a group. Ϡ

RR: >\- fuck that noise, i'm not doing anything. it was a dumb argument and they took it too far. ->

WG: Orson just wanted to talk to you about stuff you both like. Ϡ

RR: >\- and he took it too fucking far. ->

RR: >\- AND lylah is on this shit too. ->

RR: >\- it wasn't just orson, darry, and karin. ->

RR: >\- lylah has been giving me the same shit that i'm sure you're about to get from you. i have been asked to apologize over and over. what makes all of you think that i'm going to do it now after being asked and not doing it repeatedly? ->

WG: Are you seriously going to split the party lines now? Ϡ

RR: >\- PARTY LINES? ->

RR: >\- are you fucking kidding me! ->

RR: >\- we're teenagers! ->

RR: >\- this is the absolutely worst take i have heard all day. ->

WG: Just because we're young doesn't mean we can't act like adults about something like this. Ϡ

RR: >\- if being an adult is apologizing about how his favorite superhero is dumb, then i'm never going to grow up. ->

WG: Are you seriously going to destroy friendships like this? Ϡ

RR: >\- they'll forget about it in a week. i don't give a flying fuck anymore. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with wrongedGuardian [WG] ---

He sits in his room, angry as hell that it's gotten to this point. But before he can really take a break, there's another set of pings from his computer screen. He groans and puts his head in his hands before glancing up at it.

\--- inheritedPurification [IP] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

IP: >> Silas... <<

RR: >\- jesus FUCKING christ. ->

IP: >> No. <<

IP: >> You don't get to act like this right now. <<

IP: >> All you have to do is apologize. <<

RR: >\- you don't get to treat me like i'm your kid or some shit like this. ->

RR: >\- if you don't back off, then i'm done with those whole place. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with inheritedPurification [IP] ---

He opens the next message.

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

SC: xX You need to knock this shit off. You can't treat everyone like shit just because the conversation didn't go your way. You're not more important than the rest of us and you need to treat us like your friends! Xx

SC: xX You need to apologize to Orson AND Darry. I don't care about the insults you want to throw at me. I don't have the energy to care about how you treat me anymore. But those two need an apology from you because you took it too fucking far. Xx

RR: >\- if you don't have the energy, then kindly fuck off and let me worry about myself. ->

RR: >\- besides, it's not like i really have the energy to care about all of this shit too. i didn't make that comment because i thought it was going to hurt either of them. i was talking about a dumb character in a dumb show that all of us dumb kids like. is it a federal fucking crime to have an opinion about a fictional fucking character THAT ISN'T REAL!? ->

SC: xX You called Orson the biggest fucking idiot in the world because he believed that someone else was going to be the hero of the story. He brought up a theory and you slam-dunked him like he was such a fool for not seeing what you saw. Xx

RR: >\- i called him an idiot for thinking something unfounded and brought up all the story points that proved my point. i don't hate him! i don't have any major feelings wrapped up in this! i just wanted to present what i thought was going to happen! ->

SC: xX Just fucking apologize for going too far. Xx

RR: >\- when he apologizes for being a child. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with starcrossedChaos [SC] ---

And another.

\--- shadowedQuell [SQ] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

SQ: ϿϾ If you just apologize to one of us, all of this harassment will stop. It just takes one moment.

RR: >\- if i did that, then i wouldn't be living up to my reputation of being the most stubborn one of us all. and one of us has to play that part. ->

SQ: ϿϾ It

SQ: ϿϾ The character means a lot to Orson.

SQ: ϿϾ Just apologize. You don't even have to mean it. I know that you don't even want to talk about the issue at hand, but I know what's going on behind the scenes of this.

SQ: ϿϾ That character means a lot to him. It's about the place that he was before all of this took place and before he managed to meet us. It's just...it's important to him. I don't want to tell you about it without his permission. But it would just mean a lot if you can see where he is coming from.

RR: >\- i am not his emotional crutch. and i'm not having this fight. this 'friend' group fights so much about dumb things. we never just stop and look at each other and understand that we can't have control over the people that we talk to. ->

RR: >\- people are not set in stone, but the tools we have can only really change ourselves. i cannot dig my tool into another person and expect it to leave the mark that i wanted. i don't even care about his opinion or my own. i am just not going to spend my time fighting over this anymore. if you want an apology here, it won't happen. ->

SQ: ϿϾ Just apologize to him.

SQ: ϿϾ Please.

RR: >\- i won't. i'm not putting myself in the middle of this group and letting you guys flay me alive like this again. you've done so much damage and i can't care about it anymore. ->

\--- reddestRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with shadowedQuell [SQ] ---

And that leaves just one more. He knows what's in the message before he even opens it.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has begun a conversation with reddestRequiem [RR] ---

PC: You knoω exactly ωhat I'm here for.

RR: >\- i have told everyone else over and over that i'm not apologizing for this. it is an opinion about a show. regardless of what it means to you. my opinion didn't hinge on you accepting it or not. ->

PC: You insulted me!

RR: >\- about misinterpreting some pretty obvious things about a tv show! ->

PC: Just because you're upset that I'm trying to be the adult, doesn't mean you have to yell.

RR: >\- IT IS A TV SHOW. ->

RR: >\- I LITERALLY COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THIS ANYMORE. ->

RR: >\- FUCK YOU, I WILL YELL AS MUCH AS I WANT. ->

RR: >\- now unless you are going to talk to me about anything but this, i'm going to go. i don't care anymore. i'm done with this. i'm walking away from this. feel however you want about me and my actions. i don't give a shit anymore. ->

PC: You can't just run aωay and pretend that there's nothing else going on here. That's a fucking joke ωay to get out of this fight.

RR: >\- good thing i'm not laughing about it. i'm just done with this. i care about myself. i'm getting so fucking furious about everything that's happening here and it's not healthy. so i'm not running away. i'm stepping back. if you want to keep yelling at the wall, then go ahead. but i'm not going to be the one that validates you for a bad take on some characters in a show. ->

\--- reddesRequiem [RR] has ended a conversation with paperbackCalibrator [PC] ---

And there he sits in his chair, slumped back for a second before he stands up, straightening his back and grabbing a controller. He doesn't turn on his computer again after that. It's a week before he even sits back down in the chair. And you can't blame him. There are times that the world is just too much, too heavy.

\---

The screens pulse reminding you again of how Irene's interference seems to work. They jump from image to image like there's something in particular that they're looking for, but the force that set up this screen is interfering, trying to force you back on the path that it wanted at first. They fight, warring between images of befores and afters. You see flashes of violence masked over scenes of teenagers playing games together, laughing like the kids they are. You're not certain if you're going to learn anything from this, so you look away for a second, letting the dread in your gut settle.

You've known how this ended since the beginning, even if it was just a gut feeling. You can hear the screams, imagine the shredding of reality until there is nothing left. You can see the ending of a universe quite clearly. You can see how it will repackage itself and allow a different group to try again. A scratch is not a pleasant thing to witness. And you don't intend to dwell on it on your own until the screens force you to confront it. You turn your head toward the screen, expecting to see something. But it's just you looking back. You can see yourself quite clearly, your outfit is red, but you don't know if that's your own doing or something that the Queen of Wands decided. The halls of this place had red banners, so it could go either way at this point.

Suddenly the screen is blank again. The dim reflection back at yourself still stares, but you can't see yourself that clearly anymore. Instead, you're looking at someone else in red. Court.

Her planet, THE LAND OF SAND AND HARPS, spreads out in the screens in from fo you. You understand this planet much more than some of the others. It appeals to you on a very basic level. There's a lot of sand and some harps. There are no complex designs to get a hang of. There are no buildings sprawling out in every which way. This is the kind of thing that you think you would like in a game like this.

And the simplicity is also thanks to the fact that this looks like it's right after she's entered the game. Other players would have made their marks already, but Court is just standing there, looking out at everything. And then she's running. She's not a god tier yet, but it looks like that's where she's heading. she jumps over dunes and slides down the edge of a pit until she's pulled through the bottom and dropped into what looks like the inside of an hourglass. The sand funnels in, but it hasn't covered this internal structure yet. She falls and lands at the top of the pile of sand in there.

Lying in wait in the sand isn't Hephaestus, the denizen that you would have expected to see here. Instead, the Denizen for Court is CLIO. This Denizen is small and human-like. She has a harp in her hands and when she sees Court, she opens her mouth and begins singing. Court who was about to step forward is suddenly stuck in place. She's staring in awe at the woman that is singing to her. You can't blame her, but your camera shows a different side of the story.

Something in the shadows begins to move and when the red hot eyes look at where your point of view is, you see a name across the screen. PERSES. And he strikes suddenly, grabbing at Court, but then she's not just one person but three. You watch as everything goes wilder and wilder.

Time players, you sigh, tricksters to the very end. With the room full of action and multiples of the Denizens swarming the place, you can't find the action anymore. And it's when you realize that you are suddenly elsewhere. The softer LAND OF PAUSE AND FOG meets your eyes. Darry's world is quite peaceful and hard to really see through its fog. But you see him. And you see him standing at the edge of what appears to be a cliff. How far it goes and if there's anything even close to that edge if impossible to tell.

But you're guessing the lack of anything also indicates that he decided against working on the world quest that he needs to compete for his world too.

You've seen glimpses of his world, later on. There are towers that shine in the fog and structures that peek up out of it. It's glorious under the fog, but you know that it takes time to get there. You know that it takes something extra to get there. And maybe those glimpses weren't even the future, but his own knowledge of this place, images he himself had been shown.

DARRY: ϿϾ The progression system is broken.

The statement is muttered as he jumps through one gate and lands on a stairwell. It certainly looks like he's spent the time that he should have to make sure that the planet was unlocked by now, but there's nothing there. He walks down the stairwell, goes down through the world, and then enters an area that is incredibly clear. It's no longer foggy down here in the center of his world.

And down there, he sees ECHIDNA, mother of monsters. The quilled denizen is one that you've seen before, more than once. She's always there, always ready for whatever comes next.

Darry goes to her, bows, then speaks. You can't understand the conversation, but that's fair. Understanding Denizens that don't belong to you is impossible. It's one of those parts of the game that keeps some things secret even from the people within it.

The conversation doesn't last long and then she's bowing herself and handing himself a couple of the quills that are on her body. And that's the end of it. She sits back and allows Darry to pass by her and to go down the steps to his platform.

He has no weapon with him but the quills, you realize as you see him there on the platform. He holds one of them in his hand and shakingly takes a moment before he pulls the quills across his throat. His body convulses in pain and you watch him bleed out. It takes a while and he is clearly miserable the entire time.

But then his body goes still, his fingers holding the quills go limp and then there's a light around him. He wakes up, alive and breathing again, but alone as always. He's used to this, as miserable as it makes him feel.

The screen flashes forward. He floats through space, holding onto his phone. He's reading through his messages.

\--- starcrossedChaos [SC] has begun a conversation with shadowedQuell [SQ ] ---

SC: xX Be careful out there. Xx

\--- wrongedGuardian [WG] has begun a conversation with shadowedQuell [SQ] ---

WG: If you run into other problems, let us know. I'll try to get out there as quickly as possible. Ϡ

\--- nicePotato [NP] has begun a conversation with shadowedQuell [SQ] ---

NP: Some of their ranks are heading out your way. Be careful. I know that those things are fiesty. Lylah has been complaining about them

He puts away the phone and looks up. There are creatures flying across the empty space. They are definitely the same creatures that Lylah was complaining about. They're bright, almost so much so that he can't look at them. But with everything in front of him, you suddenly see his eyes. His back had looked calm and peaceful. His eyes are wild.

He's not the same quiet kid that he has been in days past. He flies straight at the enemies, colliding with them, weapon to weapon.

And then he isn't just fighting. There's a purple crackle around him and you watch as he darts around in ways that you don't understand, that you can't follow with just your eyes. He flits back and forth, distorting space as he goes and you wonder what happened to him. What shifted during all of this that he lost that need to be a step back and he threw himself into things like this.

Even as he goes, he's elegant, beautiful as he flits across the Medium. You've only seen him be stationary and still in the vastness of space. Now he's at one with it. Maybe that's the difference. He's found his place in the empty space there. He's not looking for that place he belongs anymore. He's found it right in front of him.

But then you see a shift. It's a small thing, but it doesn't go unnoticed. No, you see it just as Darry sees it. The creatures that he's been destroying have turned away from him, the thing that is actively attacking them and have focused on something else.

And that's when you see Lylah in the open space of the medium. They're all focused on her. She's paused and now she's running from them like there's anything she can do to stay out of the way. Lylah slips out of your view and you see the tentacle in the background waving. But then you are focused on Lylah. She's fleeing from the creatures that are chasing her through the Medium, but she doesn't consider her flight path until she sees the creature and it's too late. But she turns around, flitting back the way she came. The creatures, the angelic things that have been chasing her don't have the same flight control that she does and they slam into the creature. They scream, but it isn't words that come out of their mouths. It isn't even really a sound, you would say. The screaming is primal and as the tentacles lash out, you can believe that they feel nothing but fear.


	13. Chapter 12

As the creature's tentacles reach out again, searching their way for the planets that they want to destroy, your screen cuts to static again. When it cuts again, you're face to face with Irene. And she's staring directly at you. Her mouth moves like she's speaking words at you, but you shake your head no there's too much static out there for you to hear her still. She flits away and out of sight for a moment and then you're face to face with her again.

IRENE: I didn't think there was anyone else out there that could see us.

IRENE: I know the Queen can, but you're...human.

YOU: !!

IRENE: Oh right, it might be hard for you to speak because this isn't your story. You can be there, on the other side of this window, watching us. But you can't...interact with us I guess.

IRENE: Even the Queen of Wands can't speak. It's more her place than yours, but it's impossible for her to speak in a way that I'll hear. She only managed to tell me her name when I saw her.

IRENE: You shouldn't look so surprised. I'm guessing you already know how little you can affect us when you're stuck behind a window and locked into a chair.

You look down at the chair. You never realized it before, but you are locked in now. There was a time when you weren't, you're certain of that much, but you don't remember when it happened or how it happened. The chair still looks like an ordinary chair. You look back at the screen.

Irene's hand is against the window now. The static is entirely gone. You want to reach out and touch the screen, but that is now impossible. You look past Irene for a moment, trying to get a hint of where she is. But there's nothing out there, no defining features for you to see.

IRENE: And if you're feeling surprised, think about how I'm feeling. There's another person out there, another human?

IRENE: But they're not here helping us. They're on the other side of a screen just watching us.

IRENE: Like a lot of things in our world, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but our session really didn't have a point. I know how it all ends and I can't see any way that we could have avoided this, not with all the power in the world even.

YOU: :(

IRENE: It really is :(

IRENE: It's worse now that I'm here and now. You see it don't you? This is after everything.

She moves away from the screen allowing you to really get a look at the darkness behind you. You can see the thrashing tentacles of the creature, but there's no planets, no Skaia, no anything there. Just a slight crack in the darkness like a void within a void. You tilt your head while looking at it. It's like a chunk of the universe where the session was has been removed and now there's nothing left, just the vast emptiness and the darkness and the creature that lives inside it.

YOU: !!!

IRENE: I can't remember all the details of everything right now. But I need you to look at us. All of us were friends, even if we fought, even if we ended the way we did. I owe them everything. And if this is the last thing that I can do for them, then I'm going to do this for them. I need you to do one thing for me. I need you to remember this story, our story. You will meet others next.

IRENE: These people may be unlike us in many ways, but you might see some of us in them. Maybe you won't be able to see it. I couldn't tell you what you're going to see.

There are tears rolling down her face. There is nothing you can do but listen to her and wait for her to stop. Not stop talking, but stop being. The darkness is tugging at her, acting as if it wants to pull her away into that vast void. And you know that there isn't much time before she disappears into it. And so you lean forward, trying to get her attention.

IRENE: It's the end now. I couldn't stop this. I thought my powers could... I want...

And her choking words are swallowed by the sound of the wind. And then she's pulled away from the screen violently. Her hand reaches out to you, her mouth still trying to tell you words that you can't here now. And then she's gone into the darkness. And you're left alone. Left alone with guilt and pain and sorrow.

But you're not given the time to deal with all those feelings. Instead, you're forced back into the story. You watch Orson and his lab (at least the destroyed remains of it) float in the Medium. Computer bits float across your screen, concealing his face from your view. When you see him, he's dejected, sad, unsettled. This was coming, this realization that everything was going to end like this.

The creature is there, tentacles threading through the remains, looking for anything else that it can destroy. Planets torn asunder litter the Medium now, all that's left of the doomed session. There are other players jerking around the screen, blips of colored lights in the background, but you can't count them. They move too fast, dart too quickly, blur away before you can even understand who you are seeing.

The screen shifts, Flynn flies through space, the creature in front of him. He wields his two swords with a ferocity that reaches every inch of his body and his eyes. But the idea he has is a bad one. You watch the blips of light behind him dart and try to ignore what's about to happen. And then the lights stop because the tentacles pull away. They come in close to the creature's body. The purple eyes of the creature all turn inward, towards Flynn and his swords. He tries to dart out of the way as the tentacles slam into his space. And he's successful, determination on his face.

And then he's gone. A tentacle slash was all it took.

The clock chimes.

HEROIC.

Time winds backward until you see Flynn on his planet, THE LAND OF GLASS AND FLAME.

You see the Denizen, unnamed until Flynn speaks it.

FLYNN: Eusebeia. Ϡ

The choice is offered, but Flynn doesn't think before he answers.

FLYNN: I won't destroy you. Ϡ

The creature lashes out suddenly, wounding him. Blood drips down his arms, some of it on the claws of the creature now.

After a moment, a dias appears in the room, an offering of swords appears for him. Flynn walks over to it and he picks up two, one red and one blue. With them in hand, he walks down the stairs behind the creature. You don't need to see what happens next and the screen decides that it doesn't want to take you through the experience anyway. He flies out of the chamber, fully a god now. And you're still as amazed at his transformation as you are worried and saddened by it.

Every single time, you can't get over just how much more they are. It makes you think of what you could be is you had been given the chance to work with their powers.

But you pull yourself together and focus on Flynn, god-like and alive as he soars through the worlds, portal by portal. He stops by his friends, giving what strength he has to offer, giving what distractions are needed, and taking on whatever tasks the rest of them can't complete.

But then you hear the sound of the bell and it rings steady and strong until the image fades to black and you're facing the creature, the end of Flynn, the chime of his clock.

\--- A Memo has been created. ---

witnessSquared [WS] has joined.

arborEngineer [AE] has joined.

inheritedPurification [IP] has joined.

starcrossedChaos [SC] has joined.

enchantedBee [EB] has joined.

solarisRebirth [SR] has joined.

paperbackCalibrator [PC] has joined.

mythicDoubleaxe [MD] has joined.

nicePotato [NP] has joined.

shadowedQuell [SQ] has joined.

\--- paperbackCalibrator [PC] has renamed the Memo: Our Last Will And Testament, So Make It Count. ---

>SR: This isn't the time for Δ memo, Orson.

PC: Hoω else are ωe going to get our fucking act together ωith this giant creature in front of us and none of us close enough to chat?

IP: >> We're going to have to do something. We can do this. <<

PC: This creature ωasn't in any guides that I had. I don't think ωe're going to be able to fight it. I think it's outside of our control.

AE: I didn't see this coming eitheR. Something has changed our gamE. Something that's not uS.

PC: Is there any ωay to get around this?

AE: NO.

AE: This is not a battle that we can wiN. This is where it endS.

IP: >> This can't be the end. There are 10 gods here, we have some sort of power on our side. <<

PC: Silas and Flynn ωere gods too, Lylah. And they died. This is beyond us and our poωers. There's nothing ωe can do to save ourselves.

WS: well there is something we can do. it's not a way to save ourselves, but it can be that we let the universe have a chance.

SQ: ϿϾ I do have the quills.

PC: Ωhat are the tωo of you talking about?

AE: You want to scratch this sessioN? It would let another group take a chance with thiS.

WS: they won't be us. they won't have this game. maybe they'll have a better chance. we're at the end of the line here.

AE: You're righT. As soon as it started destroying planets, our fate was sealeD.

WS: then it's settled. we have to start the Scratch now.

IP: >> No!! <<

SQ: ϿϾ I'll get over to where your planet used to be, Court. Meet me there soon.

IP: >> There has to be something else. <<

SR: LylΔh, Δll of us know thΔt this is the end. You hΔve to be with us on this too.

PC: Ωe folloωed all the rules. This is the only path left that ωe can use.

IP: >> I can't accept that fate. I don't want all of us to die. <<

SC: xX none of us want to die. i know that you've always wanted to save the world and keep us safe, but we aren't going to be able to do that this time around. we need someone else to do this. this isn't giving up. this is giving the world another chance. Xx

MD: I am nΘt Flynn.

MD: But.

MD: He talked tΘ me abΘut the sessiΘn that isn't Θurs, but is the Θther side. He cΘuld feel the players Θn the Θther side. FΘr a lΘng time, he thΘught that he was dreaming abΘut gΘds. I guess he was right. But he thΘught that they created Θur wΘrld, nΘt us creating theirs. He trusted them, even if he didn't talk abΘut them.

MD: They were strΘng. They were like stars in the night sky, but brighter and clΘser. I want tΘ believe in what Flynn believed in.

PC: Ωe have to. Court, go. I don't ωant this to be doomed.

But Court was already flying as he spoke. She was silent, just a red dot flying across the Medium, fading towards a collection of rocks in space.

She darts over and under the shards of worlds that no longer belonged to people. The players that weren't speaking were fighting. Even the ones that were speaking were fighting.

The space was only chaos and Court hurtled through it. The continued fight seemed so useless to her. But the attitude, refusing to give up until the end, she appreciated it as she got out of the way of their battles.

>THE LAND OF SAND AND HARPS, destroyed, lays before her. She stars up at the giant harp that survived the battles. She had understood that it was important, but it wasn't until late in the game that it had really been explained to her. Emile had kept it to himself the longest. He didn't like the idea of it.

Darry blinks in and out of existence, the trace of him only a purple streak in the dark, fading just as quickly as it appears. He stops only when he's next to Court. He holds the quills tight in his hand. A tentacle slams through the void trying to attack them, but they part and move out of the way. Darry quickly hands Court the quills, not daring to speak.

Court hesitates, then closes her eyes and grabs them. As she hugs them to her chest, she looks up at the harp.

The tentacle comes again, but Darry destroys the space where the tentacle exists, causing it to fracture and fall apart. Court moves when she hears the cry of the creature, flying at the harp. She has quills in both hands. It isn't her weapon. It isn't the way she thought this would happen, but she'll deal with it. She slices the strings of the harp in one quick potion. The frayed strings float apart and the harp comes to life. The metal shines, the gems along it glow and spark. Flames cover the harp. A note rings through the Medium. It rings again and again and again. On the twelfth ring, the harp begins to move toward Skaia until it collides with the shattered remains of the planet.

Court goes back to Darry. The two of them float there, watching the end come. Emile and Lylah are holding hands as they watch the end come toward them. This isn't romantic. This is about facing death. Kyrie, Haven, and Karin huddle together, arms wrapped around each other. Fear shakes them. Nobel is alone, but Irene flies towards him, shouting. She's the furthest out. She doesn't want to be alone at this point.

And there's Orson, nearest to Skaia. His eyes are closed. He thinks of the ones lost early and the ones lost during it. He watches the fires erupt from Skaia, the white and blue flames that warm even the Medium.

Court reaches out and takes Darry's hand.

COURT: here's to our next lives and the ones that will Face this again.

DARRY: ϿϾ May they have better luck than us.

COURT may they make better choices than us.

DARRY: ϿϾ To their future success.

All at once, the light and fire of Skaia are blinding. All at once, it reaches out, taking out everything. At the end, all that's left is Irene and the black hole. And even then, she's removed. The darkness closes and then there's another flash.

You see Skaia again, twelve new planets, pale and lifeless. The terror called from the Void lays in wait at the edges, impatient and bored.

A RED GATE. Quiet and peaceful nothing.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC. A place without a storm brewing in it.

A place untouched and perfect. A PLACE WHOSE FATE IS ALREADY KNOWN.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is not the end


End file.
